Of Mouse and Man
by Wrathie Winsre
Summary: A wiki for the ideal, a challenge for the Fallen God. The administrator, Argo sought the true identity of the Capturing God... deep within SAO.
1. Phase 1

**Of Mouse and Man**

**Phase 1****— ****Outside & Inside**

**..**

**Original Title: ****The World Only God Knows / ****神のみぞ知るセカイ ****& **_**Sword Art Online**_(ソードアート・オンライン)

**Original Concept by: Tamiki Wakiki & Kawahara Reki**

**written by: wrathie**

**Author's Notes: A Crossover where Keima was not approached by the Weiss Capturing Squad and the Events of the Goddess Arc is non-existent.**

* * *

**Author's Notes: So I broke my new years resolution of not taking up new projects. But anyway, enjoy this madness!**

**Thank you, ****_bowpurity _****and ****_itscomplicatedokay _****for the beta!**

* * *

..

'You've got mail!'

The reminder that Keima had programmed into his PFP for this _specific sender _rang and the **Capturing God**, Katsuragi Keima paused before clicking on the blinking notification that would open the particular mail.

If it was someone else that had mailed him, one of the thousands and perhaps millions of followers that followed him, the **Capturing God** wouldn't mind.

But dealing with this individual was difficult even in the best of days, even for a person whom was a God of a better world than this shitty reality.

'Now, what does she want this time?'

Despite himself, the **Capturing God, **found himself smiling slightly to himself as he read the message, no, the demands from the gaming wikia administrator known as Meizun from him.

* * *

..

It wasn't often that the **Capturing God** found himself overwhelmed when dealing with one of his followers within the gaming sphere that he fondly called the _ideal, _especially within the realm of galge that he was undoubtedly the best at.

He was the forerunner for all things related to galge, when it came to the newest releases, the patches, the routes, the strategies, Katsuragi Keima, or the _Otoshigami _was the one to look at for those who knew of his existence

Those who called themselves a follower of all things related to VN related gaming, especially in the galge genre _had_ to know who he was, or they did not even scratch the surface of how the depth and diversity of the world that the galge universe had to offer.

It was something that was further emphasized when one considered that even in the current age that they were in, with the advancement of technology like the Nervegear, which promises to unlock the new frontier of gaming – the galge industry was still one of the growing industries in the world.

One might argue that it did pull Japan out of its slump, but it really wasn't that much of a stretch there, was it?

So when one takes into consideration the amount of games that the galge industry churns out every month, not even considering the amount of doujin materials that was being released almost weekly – it was a miracle that anyone could keep ahead of the curve.

But that was what the **Capturing God** had achieved since the creation of his webpage, one out of the few websites that focused exclusively on how to finish galges, the many different routes and endings that one could achieve.

Besides the contents, the same website withstood the annals of time and has not been moved even once to another host – a rarity in an age where new gadgets, fads and trends could be shared with the use of social media.

It was also not a stretch to say that the**Capturing God** single-handedly helped raise the standards of the galge industry – there was actually a documentary that was produced and released describing how the enigmatic figure known only as the **Capturing God** helped the industry recover from it's darkest days.

In light of all the accomplishments of the **Capturing God, **who exactly was he in person?

..

Katsuragi Keima, age seventeen and studying in Maijima High school, was also known as the 'Otamegane' or the geek with glasses. It wasn't a very bad nickname all things considered, there were worst things to be called compared to that.

In fact one could argue that it fitted Keima's description to a tee – he was indeed a teenager that wore glasses and was overly fond of his games.

The problem was that he wasn't just _overly_ fond of his games, he wasn't _borderline_ obsessive, it consumed his life. Considering that he was supposed to be a high school student preparing for his entry to college, there was reason to others to either mock him or be very concerned about him.

His outrageous dedication to his games, 'dedication' was putting it lightly - became cause for his peers to choose the former option for it

Even the geeks in school, those that were obsessed with making robots had nothing on Katsuragi Keima, he could be called the pariah too – for despite all the verbal abuse that they tried to heap on him, Keima shrugged them off like water off a duck's back.

He simply didn't care about the _real_, the _ideal_ was preferable to him and he ignored the world at large similar to how they tried to alienate him. But there was also _no_ doubt that Katsuragi Keima was also a genius. He was constantly the top student in his grade despite him absolutely ignoring and not participating in the class that he attended. That was the sole reason that none of the teachers could really discipline him as his grades were so good. Most, if not all the teachers have given up lecturing him, telling him off or even trying to force him to stop gaming in class.

The only compromise that they could manage to accomplish was to focus on the rest of the class and ignoring him instead, it wasn't too difficult seeing that Keima kept to himself and would not interact with others beyond what he _had_ to.

..

It was the same at home too, the Katsuragi household was managed by the wife of the head of the household, Katsuragi Mari – She was a person whom had went down the road less travelled herself and was loathe to tell Keima more off than she had to.

Even if she was deeply concerned about Keima's welfare, she was certain that the genius child that she called her son would be able to find his way no matter what.

Even if the likelihood that he would get married to a 2D bride was a huge looming threat.

* * *

..

The message from Meizun came out of the blue, directly challenging his title as the **Capturing God** to compete with a new start-up gaming wikia group that went by the name: 'Izashi'.

Keima had heard of the wikia, it had been gaining traction of late as it wasn't too shabby with their updates, paid attention to accuracy instead of using rumours and encouraged user participation in it's boards about galge of course.

It was a very good site, with new and old players alike but in the end it still could not match up to his own standards, and the fact that many of Izashi's users was also his dedicated followers meant that even if they weren't exactly competitors, they were also considered rivals.

But the strongly worded challenge from Meizun told Keima that whoever the administrator of the group was – it was a matter of personal pride that she provided the fastest, best and most accurate information for the galges as well.

Keima's stock value of Meizun, whoever he/she was, rose as he/she had his/her priorities in the right place at least.

But his own pride was on the line as well – he was the **Capturing God**, the best in the industry that led the lost sheep to their right path, the protagonist of a million female heroines over countless universes and the _one _who enabled countless others to do a fraction of what he had done as well.

He was not going to take this challenge lightly, he would use his full power to crush this challenger like how he had done so to others that had issued similar challenges.

..

Meizun might have followers to do some of her work for her, but Keima was the **Capturing God** and with his experience and skills developed, refined and sharpened to be the best it could ever be meant that he won every challenge that Meizun set for him.

But unlike the others, Meizun actually made him work for it. Her information network was as good as he had suspected, it had to be for Meizun was just a little slower than him in their updates.

The respect for the website administrator grew when he/she admitted that she was putting her full effort in this. Not only was she giving it her all to coordinate his/her small crew that was going through the games themselves, but also actively putting out bounties to encourage other gamers to share input on the different routes and the different dialogues that was possible in each new game that was being released.

No one ever told Meizun that the **Capturing God** was more than capable of going through more than five games at one go and still had time to spare. But even with him going at his full capability, the **Capturing God** was hard-pressed as Meizun just upped the ante and used more of her resources to try and match his skills as the **Capturing God.**

In the end Meizun did it, but he/she still conceded defeat in the end despite matching the **Capturing Gods **pace of updates. It just took _too _much to match what the **Capturing God** could manage by himself. Of course Meizun could _not_ believe that the **Capturing God** was one person till she had insisted that she called him over the phone.

Yes, she, the website administrator of one of the best galge wikias was a girl. That was enough to stop Keima for a moment until the constant stream of questions from her started getting personally.

That was how the **Capturing God **met with the Izashi Wikia Administrator Meizun.

* * *

..

The relationship between the **Capturing God** and Meizun of the Izashi Wikia was an odd one. Officially there was no rivalry between the two groups and they were certainly not collaborating with each other.

Unofficially though, those deep enough in the community knew that the two administrators were working together in a way. Although the **Capturing God** was still the most reliable and fastest source of how to clear galges, Izashi Wikia was the place to visit to know more in depth about the characters, the plot line as well as the different spin-offs that the**Capturing God** did not provide.

Likewise, although the **Capturing God** did not provide info on most of the doujin games, his site would still be able to list down what were the releases for every single galge in the industry. Izashi Wikia on the other hand would be the go to place to find out how to clear the game and achieve the Happy End.

There was definitely something of a collaboration or at least an understanding between the two groups and the situation was a source of intense discussion that took place on the boards of Izashi Wikia.

However since there wasn't an official announcement from the two websites, and since it helped the community tremendously, no one openly questioned or called the two websites out on it.

Especially since not all of them knew or were aware that the two website administrators were exchanging correspondences with each other in private.

..

'You have to get the Nervegear, it's the next stage in gaming!'

..

What helped or perhaps complicated the situation was how at times the conversation would be better held over IM rather than through emails, but Keima didn't mind. It meant that he could hold off on his replies with the troublesome woman. Yes, Katsuragi Keima considered the girl known only as Meizun as a friend, a 3D girl as a friend. Someone call the headline news, this was unprecedented for the **Capturing God**.

The working relationship that they had worked out together was something that Keima didn't quite mind himself, it helped him focus on what was really important and allowed the fans to discuss to their heart contents without clogging up the messages in his own website as well.

They were just being more specialized, and even if his website wasn't the most developed or designed – the **Capturing God's **website would continue to withstand the annals of time like it had been before.

'I'll decide after the initial release – I'm sure you remember how the PSP and the YBox was a flop? They were considered the next generation consoles as well. They were bogged down by their own products. Who knows what games the nervegear could support.'

Keima's reply was perhaps a little wordy than was necessary, certainly not to the point like he usually does. Despite being so, he did not mind spending the extra time for Meizun at all.

Despite the strong-arm tactics that bordered along the lines of blackmail in some of her stories that she shared with him – the girl was an absolute genius like he was.

She possessed a photographic memory that helped with her role of being an administrator of the wikia and that was one of the reasons that allowed her to compete with Keima as well – her ability allowed her to accurately track what has already been tried and what has not.

But Meizun was no **Capturing God**, and her true skills laid in her ability to be able to converse, to socialize and to gain information from others. In short – an information trader. She was able to source, spread and utilize information to the greatest benefit by herself. That helped her wikia network grow and be recognized as the best there was in just a few months.

As compared to the **Capturing God**, who was an information gold mine, one who was obsessed with gaining or hoarding as much information as possible while sharing it out. Keima didn't process the information, he just obtained it and shared it.

The differences between the two wasn't that great, but in a nutshell, Meizun ensured that with the limited information she had – she put it to the best use. While for Keima, he had all the information – but it's only as useful as the person who could use it.

The correspondences between the two of them would continue on along the same way, their different styles complementing each other in a lasting work relationship.

..

Most of the correspondences between the two of them was about the _ideal_, but there were times when they would talk about other things that were not related to the _ideal._ It would mostly came from Meizun's lead, that was to be expected as she was in the thick of a huge social circle with it's own complications.

It was also not of much of a surprise for Meizun to have textbook 'capturing' answers from the Capturing God replies whenever she was in the mood to complain and bitch about the problems of others that she got dragged into.

It was also during those times that the girl known as Meizun wondered what kind of person was the **Capturing God** if he thought that those questions could really appease a real girl.

Those doubts were of course not really relevant as she wasn't sure how to really place the **Capturing God**, the only individual she couldn't place even if she was able to do so for most of her crew that she had recruited over the interwebs. He was just... too detached from the world, almost as if he didn't know how to interact with people at all.

Oddly enough he was able to with her, so Meizun didn't mind him using _those_ capturing lines to try and comfort her. At least he was trying and not dismissing her off hand.

Maybe because he knew that he'll take it that way did he use those lines in the first place? If that was true, then perhaps she was closer to him than others were. Just thinking about that made her happy, she was _close _to the **Capturing God** himself, how cool was that?

However, all that would change when the Beta testing for SAO started.

* * *

..

'I'm telling you, Otoshi-kun, SAO is terrific! It's too bad you didn't get a beta-key or you'll be here with me!'

The term 'Otoshi-kun' was a nickname for the **Capturing God** by Meizun and it was amazingly tolerated by the **Capturing God** because it would probably take more effort to make the other girl stop than he was willing to commit.

Besides the change in the way they called each other, they had finally started speaking to each other via IM instead of exchanging emails.

It had happened due to one thing, and one thing only – Sword Art Online or SAO for short.

It was touted to be the next generation of gaming, and unlike many other consoles and games that had claimed that title in the past, SAO definitely put it's money where it's mouth was as if Meizun was very impressed, closed to obsession with the game really.

She had not stopped gushing about the game and although it was getting a little tiring to keep up with her endless tirade of comments and praises for the game engine, the details that went into the game as well as how realistic and amazing it was – the **Capturing God** wasn't a fan.

'I did get a beta-key, I just did not use it.'

There were only a thousand Beta-keys for the most anticipated, or maybe _the_ game of the year and people were going through hoops to get a hold of one after seeing the pre-beta release details.

To hear that the **Capturing God** had a beta-key wasn't _that_ surprising since a certain number of betas were not available through the usual methods like through competitions or through lottery draws. Those allocated number of beta-keys were instead sent to notable members of the gaming community, that was the reason for Meizun's entry into SAO.

So the **Capturing God** had been invited but had not even tried SAO at all? Meizun would have thought that he would have at least been curious enough to at least try the game before make a review or judgement on it.

'And you didn't use it? People would kill for one of those! Why, Otoshi-kun? Why?'

'As I'm the **Capturing God** of the _ideal_. SAO is primarily a MMORPG, there's no reason for me to deviate from the path to another.'

Over on her own PFP, Meizun blinked at the **Capturing God's **answer before nodding her head contemplatively.

'Well – that's true. But it doesn't hurt to actually experience it first? I'm sure that there would be galge planned for the Nervegear eventually.'

'It's not eventually, there are a few that had been announced. But they would fall short of my expectations, they promised way too much. There's just no way that the Nervegear could provide such support for all the features that they claimed they incorporated.'

The **Capturing God's** reply was quick and furious and Meizun deduced that he was probably using his past experience and the track record of the various companies that had big flops on the release date of a new console.

Meizun would be right there on the bandwagon if not for the experiences she had in SAO, the nervegear technology was so amazingly real that she could really mistake the game as another reality. Ah, that's right, that's the best possible bait for the **Capturing God** wasn't it?

'True, but the Nervegear technology allows you to live life in SAO like you are living in it. It's like the _ideal_, really!'

'Don't talk about the ideal like that, Meizun! You are disgracing it's name! There is nothing that could compare to the _ideal! _Is there a surrogate sister in SAO? What about transfer students? Childhood friends? A senior who dotes on you? Tsunderes? Yanderes? 2D will always triumph over 3D!'

..

'Uwaa... That's harsh.'

Meizun commented to herself but she couldn't deny what Keima said was true, to a certain extent as if she picked SAO, she was supporting the 2D universe and if she didn't, she wasn't defending SAO at all.

Wait, that was wrong, she was supposed to on the same side as the **Capturing God**, wasn't she?

'They don't have that, but they have evolving NPCs that live their own lives. The team is trying to replicate a real living world within SAO itself. It's a little difficult considering there are still NPC dialogues that are necessary. But it's a work in progress.'

There was a definite pause before the next reply, but since this was the **Capturing God** that she was speaking to, he might just be replying another one of his _followers_. It had only been a few months but she had gotten used to the person's eccentricity. She was also almost sure that the **Capturing God** was a boy. Almost sure, there were times where he seemed almost feminine.

Well she shouldn't pry, but the online identity known as Meizun was an information trader – and the identity of the **Capturing God** would be worth thousands!

But he was her friend, and she stuck with her friends! No way was she going to reveal his identity even if she knew it.

'They are trying to recreate the ideal?'

The **Capturing God** almost seemed hopeful at that, but it wasn't what Meizun was implying.

'I didn't say that! Don't, quote, me on that! I'm just saying that they are trying to make the world of SAO as _real_ as it could possibly be while still allowing them to remain as NPCs.'

'They are making the side-characters part of the game as well? Blasphemy! They should focus on the protagonist! If they are introduced, they are supporting casts! But if they are putting so much effort on the side-characters, they are focusing on the _wrong_ parts of the game!'

The person behind Meizun flinched and frowned, rubbing a hand over her forehead to cool herself down before she replied.

'Otoshi-kun, SAO is an MMORPG. You're there for the player interaction, not with the NPCs... or the side-characters. I mean, it's a great development! A great evolution from Skyrim, that we know... we all know how popular that game was.'

And how much the **Capturing God** had probably hated it from his replies, but she was not going to comment on that at all.

'SAO has a great engine, it _is_ the future of gaming and galge as well! You can really kiss the heroines and feel it!'

Meizun choked by herself after she clicked the send button and before she was able to retract her statement or to defend herself, the next comment from the **Capturing God** made her cough loudly anyway.

'If all the galge released on the NerveGear are real-time based, and which requires genuine physical activity on my part. … It might be time for me to retire.'

Even if she wasn't sure whether that was an offhand joke, one thing was sure, the **Capturing God** would not like SAO at all.

* * *

November 6, 2022

..

Katsuragi Keima, the **Capturing God** sighed to himself while staring at the package that had been unpacked in front of him. It was Meizun that finally won him over to at least buy a copy of the game and the Nervegear that had been required. What made it easier was that Meizun herself had even offered to sponsor him a Nervegear if he still haven't gotten one.

But Keima was sure that Meizun drew the line at queuing up for a copy of the game, and as such he was thankful that he was able to place a order directly through the company as he was one of the selected few Beta Players.

The **Capturing God** had for the longest time been buying games due to his reputation and the role of being the **Capturing God**. That did not mean that he did not _like_ to buy games, he had lots of joy purchasing the extra merchandise, spin-offs like Drama-CDs, magazines of his favorite games and companies. This would be the _first_ time that he truly was buying a game due to a recommendation. That and the threat of blackmail as well.

Keima had in the past relied on Meizun, who had arguably a bigger circle to source for some of the rarer merchandises that he wished to obtain. So he had grudgingly asked for her help in obtaining some of those merchandise, it was simply using the right tools for the right job.

In return Keima would be sure to send her a few copies of the limited editions that she would like to write a review on that he had procured on his own. Keima had his own contacts in the game companies, many of those who had even went to the extent to provide him with a monthly stipend due to his contribution to their company.

..

Shockingly, despite knowing each other's address and having conversed over the phone in numerous occasions - the two of them still _had_ not met up with one another in the _real_. It was partly due to Meizun knowing that Keima would _never_ agreed to a meet-up and partly her own reservation on how she feared that the **Capturing God** wasn't really the **Capturing God **that she had grown to know and respect even more. What if he was more than one person like she had initially thought?

Keima for his part did not request a meet-up as here was no reason to, dealing with people was a pain and even if Meizun wasn't one of those individuals who gave him trouble, he still shunned away from interacting in the _real_.

Who knows what would happen after that – he hadn't been hurt once, but as the **Capturing God**, the words from a pro to another could hurt very deeply indeed.

* * *

**Author's Notes: Do R&R and tell me what you think of the first chapter!**


	2. Phase 2

**Of Mouse and Man**

**Phase 2****— ****In a Game**

..

**Original Title: ****The World Only God Knows / ****神のみぞ知るセカイ ****& **_**Sword Art Online**_(ソードアート・オンライン)

**Original Concept by: Tamiki Wakiki & Kawahara Reki**

**written by: wrathie**

**Author's Notes: A Crossover where Keima was not approached by the Weiss Capturing Squad and the Events of the Goddess Arc is non-existent.**

* * *

**Author's Notes: Thank you, ****_bowpurity and itscomplicatedokay_**** for the beta.**

* * *

..

To call SAO a game was an understatement, it was exactly what Meizun, as she was known in SAO too had said. A whole new world ripe for exploring and which had more than a few nasty surprises for him.

The first thing that the **Capturing God** discovered was that the classic situation of an NPC repeating lines was still common in SAO. Compared to what Meizun had said that they were trying their best to create an evolving environment for the side-characters within the game, it was a huge let down.

Still, the **Capturing God, **or 'Keima' as he had selected his avatar to be named, was impressed with the game engine and mechanics. It was true that they were trying to replicate the _ideal_ within the _real_ after all! Not that he minded, it was long overdue if he had his view. Compared to the other consoles that Keima had tried over the years, like the binocular-glass, the jWatch, and all those fancy techy geeky items, the NerveGear was the holy grail to all of them.

It was just as what they advertised on the package, SAO was a game which truly transported them fully into another world and gave them the opportunity to interact with the game them on all five senses.

The **Capturing God** was truly impressed, and he was both salivating and nervous about how it would affect the galge industry. There was no doubt that SAO could be so interactive only due to the huge servers that all the players were all connected to. All that processing power was required to run the game, all of it's interfaces as well as to keep the virtual world alive.

So what if the NPC dialogues were still repetitive, the NPCs themselves had their own personality, their own lives and their own jobs.

Just like the waitress who served Keima his drink with a smile that brightened when Keima added a tip to the bill.

'Geez, so there you are, Otoshi-kun!'

It was Meizun and Keima waved lazily back as he chided her for not using his avatar's name instead.

'Oh yeah, it's Keima right? And I'm Meizun~ It's great to see you _finally_ decided to join the rest of the gaming community here, Keima-kun.'

Meizun beamed happily at the **Capturing God** who shrugged and offered a seat to the Wikia administrator.

'It's like you said, I have to experience it to believe it. So now I'm here.'

'It's great isn't it? The second floor is much better though! When the guys clear the first floor I'll bring you around.'

'Mm... If I get the time to do so. There's so many games outside that is going to be released soon.'

Keima admitted with a small shrug and that made Meizun more certain that the **Capturing God** was really working by himself. Her respect for him grew more when he nodded to the waitress and she brought over another cup of drink for her.

'Smooth, Keima-kun, smooth.'

Meizun didn't mind though, though she was a little concerned about whether the boy in front of him was a playboy in real life if he could effortlessly use one of the most common ways to earn points with members of the opposite sex.

Then again, it wasn't that hard to do seeing that he knew that she was coming to meet up with him. She had been quite excited when he had informed her that he would be participating in the opening day as well.

Though the two of them were using their in-game avatars to interact with each other, Meizun had picked one that was quite similar to herself. She was a bit taller than her real height, but she had kept the curly auburn hair that was trimmed slightly above her ears. There was just no profit to be made from making an attractive character – that just tends to make people treat her differently or be dismissed as an attention seeker. No, an information dealer and trader should look as normal as possible.

Which could be used to described the **Capturing God's **avatar perfectly, a generic avatar with glasses along with very dark hair in the default hairstyle were the only things that the **Capturing God** could be bothered with.

It bothered Meizun when she remembered how smooth and suave the **Capturing God** was earlier when he gave the tip to the pretty NPC waitress.

The waitress even deviated from her generic NPC line to thank him for his kind act. Barely an hour into the game and he was _capturing_? The **Capturing God **indeed!

'Anyway, you're new here right? Let's go out an explore a little! How about I bring you around and show you the ropes?'

Meizun offered a hand to the **Capturing God** and he hesitated, looking up at all the other NPCs that were speaking to each other in ways that were probably programmed before he agreed to Meizun's offer.

Only time will see whether SAO could evolve like the developer said that he would – if not, then there was the option of ditching this game behind like a hot potato as well.

* * *

..

'You're picking the game up quite nicely, Keima-kun~'

Meizun praised as she navigated the equipment list of her display easily and expertly. After bringing Keima around the town, giving him directions on what were the shops available – not to mention starting him on a few beginner quests, the two of them went out to the fields to practise their fighting skills a little.

'It is my first time with the full dive technology. I admit... it is more complicated than I imagined.'

Keima admitted with a frown as he stared at the short sword in his hand, he had just used a sword skill – Reaver to kill one of the boars that the two of them were grinding on.

He was familiar with the terminology and how MMORPGs should be played, but that didn't mean that he had the patience or liked doing so.

'It's not me, Meizun... Playing MMORPGs isn't me.'

Meizun gave a small smile as she shrugged helplessly, a short sword in her hand that she used to slash her next target while replying to him.

'I know it isn't, that's why I'm so happy that you're willing to at least try it out! I won't ask you to play more than you _want_ to.'  
Meizun paused as she finished the boar off, and then turned to look at Keima with a big smile.

'I'm _really_ happy that you are in SAO because I asked you. I didn't think you would! So for all that's worth, thank you, Keima-kun.'

Keima paused at that, the website administrator was a little more emotional than he would expect. The two of them _weren't_ exactly close, but they were definitely friends. Keima acknowledged the wikia administrator as an equal and as they shared similar hobbies, they had a lot to talk about. Keima never talked about his personal stuff. She did not either but through their conversations he had built up a profile for the stubborn and proud wikia administrator.

No doubt she had done the same for him, was the sneaky girl trying to get an upper hand on him to get him to keep playing SAO?

'I see no reason why you are persuading me to play SAO, it has nothing to do with what we specialize is, does it?'

Keima asked patiently, sheathing his short sword and watching Meizun go back to attacking another boar without hesitation.

'No, it doesn't.'

Meizun agreed while slashing at the head of the boar, leaping to the side she laughed and said that it didn't really matter.

'But what I learnt from playing SAO was that it can be a little lonely at times.'

'Lonely?'

Keima asked in confusion while Meizun just chuckled softly.

'Yeah, lonely... playing galges has always been a solitary activity right? I mean, some people like playing with friends... but galges is a one-person game. SAO... is an MMORPG game, I've met a lot of people here... and well, I'm happy that I can play _with_ you, Otoshi-kun. Instead of just discussing and competing with you, I think we can make... no, evolve, SAO into an even much better place!'

Keima didn't understand fully what Meizun was speaking about till it clicked.

'Ah, the evolving mechanic... the more one plays the game, the better SAO becomes. It's taking advantage of the thousands of player interactions to fine tune the game. Like cloud computing...'

Keima acknowledged that with a nod while severing the _flag_ that had no doubt appeared on top of Meizun's head. There was just no way that he couldn't pick up the hints, who ever knew that the wikia administrator would feel that way.

Well, it was a distinct possibility, Keima just didn't think it would happen that way, or in this fashion.

'And with the two of us inside that pool, I'm sure we can make the world evolve further. I'm sure you can, you're the Cap- I mean, you're Otoshi-kun! You matched the full might of our Wikia, there's no one else like you! SAO is perfect for us to see how much this engine can develop. The ideal... might really be in reach this time.'

Meizun was enraptured by her own image of the ideal, one that Keima approved off before her smile turned sly.

You were trying to capture the NPC waitress didn't you?'

Meizun laughed as Keima actually looked sheepish before he tried to defend himself.

'You disappoint me, Meizun. Anything is possible as the **Capturing God**. And speaking of loneliness... You're never alone when you have the heroines supporting and relying on you, Meizun. That is something basic – You are _never_ alone in the _ideal. _Everything revolves around you and in that vein – there is nothing lonely about it. Even if one might say that one was playing god and playing their feelings... but the fundamental truth was that the _heroines _needed us, to be the guide for them to achieve the happy end. There is absolutely nothing lonely about that.'

Keima's voice was firm and his face was set as he ruthlessly severed all the counter arguments that Meizun might have. Almost as Meizun sighed and shook her head.

'Well, that's one way to look at it... but the _ideal_ isn't just about the girls or the game, Keima-kun. It's also about the people that you love the girls in the same way you do. I mean – fans are the ones who made the games possible, not the other way around. You can't just dismiss that! I can't accept a world where there are only the heroines. It'll get to your head.'

To her counter argument, the **Capturing God** and the wikia administrator exchanged wordless stares before they smiled in unison. Message received – even if their views might be a little different, the two of them did love the _ideal_ with all of their hearts.

* * *

..

'And this is, Argo, the Rat!'

Keima raised an eyebrow at the way the new female player, Argo, stared at him for a long time before waving a hand in greeting.

'Well~ Argo here! Like what Meizun said, Argo the Rat, at your service. Whether it is the location of the weakest or strongest mob, a specific quest or even selling your gear, you can count on me to get you the best deal. All for a fee of course.'

Argo winked before offering a hand to Keima.

'So you must be Otoshi-kun, I've heard a lot about you from Meizun over here.'

Argo winked again while Keima raised an eyebrow at the smaller girl. The two's avatars were quite similar, only Argo wore a hoodie to hide her probably longer hair.

'Meizun, I believe you stressed confidentiality in our association and correspondences?'

Keima wasn't _that_ mad, but it was to prove a point as well as to earn some favors from the wikia administrator in the future. Potential blackmail material was always good.

'D-Don't worry, Argo here is my second in command! She won't tell any one else.'

Argo's chuckles made Keima really wonder about that.

'I'm one of the beta-players too. So if there's anything you need to know, whether it's a quest or whatever, there's no one better for you to ask.'

For a small fee of course?'

'Of course! You catch on quick!'

Argo chuckled happily while Meizun just looked torn before she came to a decision herself.

'Well then, we should be going to get some more experience, Argo, Keima-kun. It's time to start levelling!'

Although Keima would rather interact more with the world at large, he was dragged away as Argo accepted to be led by the wikia administrator.

It'll probably be the last time he would ever play SAO, Meizun's ambitious plans or not. It just wasn't his cup of tea.

Sadly, that decision was made for him by the _God_ of this world, a decision even the **Capturing God** had to follow.

* * *

..

Keima's eyebrows raised when Meizun was enveloped by a flash of white light. He looked about, surprised for a few seconds before he himself was enveloped by the same light. Regaining his sight, he looked around, silently nothing that he was in the first town's plaza, and more players were being forced to gather by the God of this world, Kayaba Akihiko.

His intent wasn't clear, but what was clear was what his speech would cause. It was going to be bedlam when the truth finally dawned on all of them. For Keima though, not having the [Log Out] button had caused different feelings to grow in his heart as compared to the normal player. He actually felt surprised and amused about the prospect of a game that he _couldn't_ log out off.

Of course that train of thought was derailed when the fact that he might die was revealed. But he was the Capturing God, not a gamer. His skills were in capturing the heroines of the world. He suspect that there were a few NPCs in town whom could be called heroines, but he was not certain.

Before Keima could completely contemplate his thoughts, Kayaba Akihiko had shown his next hand – adding the 'mirror' item into their inventory. It's foolish to use a key-item without knowing what it does and Keima held back from using it. Argo did the same as well and the respect he had for the other girl grew as she winced when her warning to Meizun to _not_ use the item came a second too slow.

It was unlike Meizun to just follow instructions or charge in without even considering the implications. The wikia administrator was normally more cautious and verified everything before committing to a course of action. Then again this was quite a stressful situation for all of them.

..

'A-Ahh... What happened?'

When the light faded away, Meizun looked totally different. She was much shorter than what she was previously and had brown eyes, curly auburn hair in quite a small frame and built.

She didn't seem aware of the change but it made Argo's mouth dropped as she pointed a finger at her accusingly.

'Y-You, look the same as you do outside, Re- I mean, M-Meizun!'

Argo rushed over to Meizun to check on her as Keima looked around the whole square with an assessing look. It looked that a majority of the players had followed Kayaba's instructions – meaning that only a few players had the privacy of having an Avatar to hide their real identities.

'I can't drop the 'mirror' from the inventory, Keima-kun. Can you?'

Argo asked stiffly and when Keima replied in the negative, she shook her head and said that it was probably a 'key' item of sorts and can't be disposed.

'At least you weren't as easily led on like Meizun to use it just like that. At least Meizun looks cute, right?'

Argo laughed when Meizun blushed and said that wasn't true. There were plenty of comebacks for Keima to comment on, but sadly they all had to focus on the biggest threat to all of them. Kayaba Akihiko wasn't done yet.

..

**'Now, I have finished the official Tutorial for [Sword Art Online]. Players – I wish you luck.]**

The final announcement was given, and the being that was Kayaba Akihiko disappeared in a spectacle that was worthy of the Final Boss. There was a short pause, before the entire square filled with players started to panic even more.

Out of around ten thousand players, only a few groups were calmly taking stock of the situation. One of them was the group that composed of Keima, Meizun and Argo.

The two girls were having some difficulty keeping calm but all of them had cool heads that were whirling desperately, trying to find a solution for this. Keima was, well... Keima. The **Capturing God**'s mind was in a similar state– considering what Kayaba Akihiko had said.

A part of him was afraid and angry. This, person had just trapped him in a game that he had no intent on completing and playing? Why did the real had to give him this shitty reality? Trapping him in a MMO... and even if it has a clear end, it's still a MMO! It was impossible for anyone to clear the game! Worst, he hated physical activities the most! He might as well not even bother to fight seeing how troublesome it was! There were beta players like Argo and Meizun, weren't there? Leave leveling up to other players! When he heard the news that players had to clear 100 floors in order to escape, his mind was probably made up then.

He would not play SAO - it's ridiculous to expect him to. It was sheer misfortune that brought him here, along with his curiosity in this nervegear virtual reality. So, he would 'satisfy' his curiosity of this world, and leave the main gameplay and clearing to the other players. He might as well not even bother to fight enemies, and to just interact with the world. Why fight, when your accomplishments can not be called your own?

Still... a part of him however was worried that his title of **Capturing God** would be taken away from him now that he was stuck in SAO. From what he learnt about the beta-testers of SAO, the game had a brutal difficulty curve. Even with their experience and the fact that they couldn't die in the game - they were only able to reach the tenth floor in one month. Also, there was no doubt in his mind that the difficulty of the game would spike upwards from there. And no matter how skilled a player would be, there would be accidents resulting in death, leading to unrecoverable losses in manpower. There were 100 floors to clear this time, and that meant that the time needed to clear the game, assuming that law enforcement couldn't get them out, would be years! Years! Who knows what galge he would have missed then!

That led to another part of Keima feeling fear, fear that he was stuck in a game where he had absolutely no experience with. SAO was a new game but besides that, it was a MMORPG that was based on the Full Dive technology which Keima had no experience with.

It was a game that required _physical_ action to clear the game and even if the system made it clear that stamina nor pain was an issue, it meant that Keima would have to put physical effort into it! While it wasn't a giant hurdle, he still dislikes doing it, as it reminded him about how real was a shitty reality. As the **Capturing God** he would prefer to never need anything more than his experience, his skills in reading between the lines and his ability to remember the details to_capture_ the heroines of any galge.

SAO was a completely different thing altogether, where the necessary skill resided in one's ability to learn and be good at the full dive technology.

Meizun was a natural, or was just experienced, but what did that entail for him? He had given it a try before this 'GM Event' but even so, he wasn't confident in his abilities in the game.

It took a while before he calmed down, and when he did, he found himself surprised by what was in his heart. He was tempted and even reassured by the situation. This… this game could be the closest he would get to the ideal, and he was given a chance to live in it. A world that evolves, that grows with each interaction. This could be the place that he was truly waiting for, a place where heroines can shine… though he still disliked that he could die here. This was probably the place that he was truly waiting for, wait – what was it that he was looking for? A place where he wouldn't be -

..

'We have to go now, Keima-kun, Meizun.'

Argo interrupted Keima's internal thoughts with a sharp whisper, one hand resting on the two's shoulders before she tugged them to start moving. They did so, but only because Keima was still considering his own options absent-mindedly. Looking back at this moment from the future, Keima could rightly point to this being the crucial time and when his poorly thought and arrogant considerations changed his life for ever.

'Where are we going, Ri-I mean, Argo...'

There were quite a few slip-ups between the two girls as Argo pulled the two of them into a nearby cafe before calling the waiter to serve some drinks for the two of them.

'We're moving out of the starting city. There's at least three different cities in the first floor after all. It's best for us to start moving before all the players here start camping at the starting areas to get stronger.'

'O-Oh, right... this... this thing got way serious a moment ago... huh. Should we should get some supplies first before we head out?'

Meizun calmed down quickly too but when she turned to look at Keima, she froze for the **Capturing God** had a small satisfied smile on his face instead of being serious or coming up with a plan like what she had expected him to do.

'Keima-kun? Wh-What's wrong? Is there something funny?'

'Keima-kun?'

Argo seemed surprised too and the information trader pulled back her hoodie to have a better look at the **Capturing God. **He was definitely finding the whole thing amusing for he shook his head and said that he wasn't leaving this city. Not yet any way.

'Ah, so you want to help the other players? That's... really quite noble of you, Keima-kun.

Meizun sounded happy and torn about that, Argo for her part just look pained. She was in the beta, and she knew how important a good head start was to a player. A player who was able to obtain a better weapon earlier on was one who would have higher chances of surviving. A player who manage to reach the preferred grinding areas first would benefit as he would be able to kill more monsters quicker, gaining experience faster compared to other or compared to a two players sharing a grinding area. It wasn't uncommon for more experienced Betas being able to hold an entire grinding spot of monsters by his experience and level alone.

Newbie players would find the going tougher than ever due to their lack of knowledge and information. That was not mentioning how they would find the curve more difficult as stronger players would hoard areas to allow them to gain levels faster, forcing the newbies to fight in more dangerous areas or to remain weak until the stronger players move on.

The fact that Keima wanted to stay behind to help the newbies made Meizun feel happy and proud of the **Capturing God**, he was going to lead his lost sheep to the right direction right? With any bit of luck and charisma she _knew_ he had, this was the best possible place to gather a group of loyal players to form a guild with!

..

'No, I'm not.'

'I'm... not, what?'

Keima's reply made both girls pause in their thoughts but it was Keima's next statement that made them freeze again.

'I'm staying here... there isn't any reason for me to clear the game.'

'W-What do you mean, Keima-kun? You heard Kayaba Akihiko, we're all _stuck_ in SAO! If we don't clear the game, we won't be able to go home again!'

It was Meizun who questioned him first, no, demanded from him and the smaller girl's jaw dropped when Keima just flicked a hand through his hair dismissively.

'I have no interest in the _real_ after all. This... you were right the first time, Meizun. This is the _ideal_, and since I found it... I see no reason to live. Kayaba Akihiko had created the ideal world for me.'

Keima sighed, almost in contentment while the other two girls just stared at him in shock. Did he really mean it? Did he really not mind _never_ leaving SAO? Never going back? Was the **Capturing God** going to just, give up like this?

'Do you even know the implications, Keima-kun?! He was not kidding around! We can't log out of SAO! We, we could really use your help here! Help me out here, Meizun?'

Argo expected Meizun to do just that but the second biggest surprise of the day was Meizun shaking her head and saying that she had expected this.

'Otoshi-kun, you... are you really okay with this?'

The website administrator asked softly, her eyes looking resigned and surprisingly serious. Keima responded in turn, the tone of her voice making Keima take note and to reply her.

'Yes, I'm fine.'

'… I... I won't stop Keima-kun.'

Meizun finally answered after a moment's hesitation – but she wasn't done just yet.

'But I won't approve of it. I'll come every day, to persuade you, Keima-kun. I promise...'

Meizun spoke softly while Argo looked on, her expression rigid and torn as well.

* * *

**Author's Notes: R&R is appreciated greatly!**


	3. Phase 3

**Of Mouse and Man**

**Phase 3****— ****His Plight**

..

**Original Title: ****The World Only God Knows / ****神のみぞ知るセカイ ****& **_**Sword Art Online**_(ソードアート・オンライン)

**Original Concept by: Tamiki Wakiki & Kawahara Reki**

**written by: wrathie**

**Author's Notes: A Crossover where Keima was not approached by the Weiss Capturing Squad and the Events of the Goddess Arc is non-existent.**

* * *

**Author's Notes: What have I unleashed upon this world I wonder.**

**Thank you ****_bowpurity _****and ****_itscomplicatedokay_**** for the betas and the discussions.**

* * *

..

'Keima-kun, how are you doing?'

Meizun asked cautiously as she took a seat directly opposite of Keima. The **Capturing God** had spent the better half of the week going about life as usual, that meant that he was doing nothing and simply whiling the day away interacting and speaking with the NPCs.

Although a majority of them had fixed NPC dialogue which would be repeated in a predictable loop, Keima wasn't really doing _nothing_. He had been able to identify a few special NPCs which had more than just the NPC dialogues. They were typically NPCs who gave quests and as such had a small story dedicated to them.

Keima wasn't interested in those NPCs as well, he was however obsessed with the rare few which had 'learning' components built into their programming.

Those NPCs were able to pick up and learn from the players to better 'interact' with them over the long run. It was something that was not available in the beta and without Keima testing this theory out by sticking and interacting with them, it might not be discovered as well.

One of those NPCs that were built with the 'learning' function was the governor of each town. Even in the first floor, there were several small towns littered throughout the floor and each town had their own 'governor'.

This governor NPC was also the one who issues and rewards players for quests that were available in each town. Unlike other games, where players could turn in rewards to any available 'quest' counter, if one accepted a quest from a particular NPC, they must return to him for the reward.

There were still a few things that weren't realistic. Players do not need to compete with each other to accept quests, nor were there a limit on the number times one could do the repeatable and common 'fetch' quests.

The governor NPC himself/herself could also provide updates on what was going on around the town and the surrounding areas.

One thing that was particularly helpful for Meizun was how he could give an accurate account of how many players were in the town at any given time. Also of note was a 'prosperity' level that the governor would persuade the players to help raise for his town.

Argo surmised that it would have to do with an invisible counter that changed depending on perhaps the profits generated by the town?

..

Another thing that was different in the beta was the prices of raw materials and items in the town could and would change depending on what was going on in town. There was an economy going on in Aincrad that was influenced by the players interaction with the town. The prices of the basic healing item – 'Small HP Potion' had almost doubled by the end of the first day but apparently the item had dropped in value in town furthest from the beginning city.

The selling price of materials like 'Boar Skin' or 'Wolf Fang' had also decreased a little in the beginning town – a standard case of supply outstripping demand for the product.

Although the economy wasn't fully replicated in SAO – There were games that limited players from buying items based on what they sold back to the merchants, players couldn't take the NPC merchants for granted any further.

Prices for bartering of items would change by the day, and sometimes it might even be affected by a single player bringing a bulk of items that they were about to sell to the merchants.

..

But all of that wasn't as important as what the Players themselves were doing. In the first day, the only players who died were the few tens who had their Nervegear removed in real life despite warning from Heathcliff.

In the second day, there were reports of several deaths due to the players themselves taking on monsters beyond their means.

But on the end of the second day, an item was made available in all the merchant stores for 1G, that was the – Argo's Field Guide to Aincrad.

It was compiled and published by Argo with her knowledge of being in the Beta which taught the basics of combat in Aincrad, a listing of quests available in the beginning city as well as a breakdown of monsters that spawned in the first floor.

The guide had helped. Players started to get a little better and confident with the guide to feed them knowledge on what to expect.

Keima naturally read through the book just as a side note – his goal was to know what kind of person Argo was and the detail in which she put in her work.

He had been sufficiently impressed by the attention to detail of Argo and his opinion of the girl rose.

On the third day, the second edition of Argo's Field Guide to Aincrad was released, only this time it was renamed to 'Field Guide to Aincrad' instead as the revision had been compiled with the help of several beta-testers. Argo steadfastly refused to give up their names no matter the price and it had caused quite a bit of friction to appear between the players and the information broker.

They could not alienate her though, not when she was the fountain of knowledge and information of Aincrad. Not to mention that she was in the same guild as Meizun whom had already made a name for herself as a top player.

She was already level 8 in three days, quite a feat considering that the common monsters within the first floor rarely got past level 5, and the difficulty curve to level up was reasonably steep.

With just the two of them working together, the exp gain that the two had were substantial. Though, perhaps alternatively, the two of them were grinding quests that gave them a good exp return.

..

For Keima however, he hadn't even passed the level 4 mark by the third day when Meizun dropped by once more to speak with him.

'I'm doing well.'

Keima replied while drinking the tea that the NPC waitress had poured for him. No, that wasn't right, she wasn't a NPC, she was Jessica, one of the few NPCs who could 'learn' over time.

It had only been two days and he had already struck up a chord with the pretty brunette waitress who had lived her whole life here in Aincrad on the first floor.

'I see... have you been training, at all?'

Meizun asked after placing an order with Jessica for a cup of coffee, past experience visiting him had shown that if she treated the waitress as an NPC or just ignored her she would get chewed out by Keima for that.

As expected of the **Capturing God?** He was trying to 'capture' the NPC waitress, wasn't he?

'No, I don't see the reason to. I get by every day with the quests that I finish for the governor. Taking down 4 boars by myself is simple enough.'

Keima answered with a bored expression, it was like being on the clock for 2 hours before he could spend the day doing exactly what he wanted.

He couldn't play his PFP here, but there were other things to do in its place – getting to know the history of Aincrad was fruitful as well. Although he disliked physical activity, especially the time and effort needed to go from one location to the next, Meizun was right to say that the experience of SAO was different.

He truly felt that he was _earning_ all the achievements here, which was a good feeling.

'And it's dangerous outside. I saw a few players almost get killed because they fought a wolf pack. Those are dangerous monsters, isn't that right, Jessica?'

'Mm, that's right, Keima-kun. Just yesterday I heard a [player] got killed by a pack as well.'

Jessica replied dutifully as she served Meizun the cup of coffee. Though for her benefit, Jessica looked upset and apologetic when she said those words. Unlike Keima who simply shrugged as if it wasn't his concern.

But it was, a person had _died_ in SAO.

'But if you don't get stronger, you'll be left behind, Keima-kun... wouldn't you want to... make a difference?'

..

Meizun was a beta-tester and as one, she was very knowledgeable of the best places to grind and to level up in the first floor. But levelling on stronger monsters carried their own risks even if she knew what she was doing. With Argo heading out to gather more information for the next edition of the Field Guide, Meizun took the opportunity to visit Keima to try and persuade him to join their cause.

Keima had been provided his own share of valuable information on the 'affluence' level of the town, the quests that were given out by the governor of the starting city and lastly, provided at least some current news from what he had gathered from the NPCs.

'Make a difference? And risk my neck? It's too dangerous and risky, and if there's one thing I hate, it's not being certain. The odds are stacked against us in this game, if it's best to wait it out and see if there's any progress from the government outside of SAO.'

That was the crux of Keima's belief, that with such low odds, it's better to consider self-preservation rather than throw caution to the wind like what some of the players are doing. They are getting stronger, yes, but the rewards for all that was to take part in another endless rat race to be the strongest.

'The title of being strong or the strongest means nothing to me, Meizun. Even if I am **God**, there are things that I would not even consider doing.'

Keima sounded extremely pompous here, and terribly arrogant. If the NPC waitress recognized it, she didn't comment even as Meizun looked pained. She definitely looked upset at what he was saying.

'Th-That's... irresponsible of you, Keima-kun.'

Meizun replied slowly, trying not to set Keima off as he narrowed his eyes at her.

'In what way am I irresponsible, Meizun? Please, tell me your reason for saying so.'

'Well...'

Meizun paused, closing her eyes to gather her courage before she pressed a hand against the chest plate she was wearing to explain to Keima.

'… Because Keima-kun is better than that. Keima-kun could do much more than what he is doing now. Even if it doesn't seem much, what Keima-kun has discovered just by doing what you like is helping the players in Aincrad. All of us are trapped here, Keima-kun, we are in the same boat... so we could really use your strength?'

Keima's eyebrows raised slightly at her words, he didn't know that the wikia administrator had so much faith or trust in him. Perhaps she was just projecting her own success onto him? Meizun was doing very well, there had been much discussion about her – how she was probably going to lead the charge to the boss of the first floor.

Discussions like this wasn't lost on Keima, _he didn't feel much from those discussions even if he should._. Perhaps it should? Meizun had a point here, he was proud of his title as the **Capturing God** and if he was being dismissed or no being acknowledged – no, that wasn't right.

He had nothing to prove here, and he didn't need to risk his neck like this.

'I owe them _nothing_. You might say we are in the same boat, but we aren't. There are many players who value their own skin more. You've heard of them, didn't you, Meizun. Not _all _the beta-testers are as concerned for the entirety of the player population.'

It was just the fourth day so far, and there were already rumours being spread of players being tricked and conned of all their equipment and gold by unscrupulous players. There was even a story of how a player, claiming to be a beta-tester, had abandoned a group of newbie players to their deaths after getting over their heads in the higher level training grounds.

Beta-testers were also ruthlessly guarding their levelling areas and not allowing other players to have their turn. They put their lives first and foremost and in Aincrad, in SAO, one's survivability was measured in one's level and strength. He also had his suspicions that Meizun and Argo were doing the same, as they were high leveled as well.

It was something that Keima thought was the most stupid thing in the world – being ranked and put in a place where survival of the fittest was determined by pure numbers really pissed him off, even if those numbers were earned by physical effort.

But it was also something that Keima couldn't deny or to fight against, the _god_ of SAO had declared it so.

'T-That's true, but that means that if we have your help, we could tip the balance! You saw how Argo's guide had helped many of the newbies right? They are getting better, we are getting stronger. You're the **Capturing God**, Keima-kun. You can, I'm sure you can lead us all to clear this game.'

..

Keima should be flattered by Meizun's insistence and worship, but he wasn't. This was something that he had made up his mind and was firmly staying with. He was _not_ risking his life and using his time for others who would all be interested in saving themselves in the first place.

It wasn't a fair trade-off, and one could call him hypocritical all they like. Keima was interested in his own life as well – no one wouldn't and so there wasn't any reason for him to put himself at risk if there wasn't a significant return back on his effort.

Especially when he was getting decent returns and was surviving without even trying.

'I refuse. This is not _my_ fight. I'm the Capturing God of the _ideal_, not the Clearing God of MMORPGs or anything similar. Jessica, could you please get me a refill? This is really good tea.'

Keima gave the waitress a smile and a wink that caused her to giggle while leaving to get his request.

'… I won't give up, Keima-kun. I know you could do so much if you just put your mind to it.'

Meizun shook her head sadly as she got up, dropping a few coins to pay for her coffee. Giving Keima one last expectant look, Meizun bowed to him and took her leave, exiting the cafe before Keima could say his own good byes.

'Perhaps it's a mistake to accept her as a 'friend'.'

Keima mumbled but then dismissed the thought, even if he was not going to fight in the front-lines like what Meizun had hoped he would, he could still contribute something, only if he felt like it.

* * *

..

'So... he refused.'

Argo spoke before Meizun could say anything back to her friend who had been waiting for her near the exit of the beginning city.

'Yeah... he refused. Guess I'll try again tomorrow.'

Meizun gave a helpless smile while shrugging before she exited the town, Argo following behind her quietly while typing a PM and sending it out. She was frowning though and biting her lip slightly before she sighed.

'Are you going to continue wasting time on... him? I know that you said that you don't feel comfortable fighting on that field without backup, but you could be levelling on the next best one. You're good enough to handle it.'

Argo started but was interrupted when Meizun raised a hand and told her to stop.

'Don't, Argo, don't... just, don't. You know how good he is supposed to be.'

'I... I know, I know! That's the only reason I didn't stop you from trying... but it's been four days and he's still lazing about! If he really is good, if he really _cared _he should have done _something_.'

'He did do something, he discovered the 'affluence' level and the way the market worked right?'

Meizun brought up a valid point, his discovery had made it possible for the players to understand some of the workings of SAO.

'And he's been giving us updates on what rumours were spreading about in the towns right? That quest of a new dungeon was also thanks to him.'

Meizun smiled as Argo bit her lip in defeat. It was true that Keima had helped a little despite not being out on the fields. He was still useful even if he didn't have the level to back it up.

'But that doesn't mean you have to go back there every day to... to try and persuade him! If that's what he want to do, stay holed up and all safe and sound while other people fought and bleed, that's _his_ call!'

Argo lashed out but was silenced when Meizun shook her head and said that was the same route that Argo was taking.

'You're an information broker, Argo, and you were never in the field by yourself... well, now you are, but only as support.'

'That's different! And you know it! I'm putting my reputation and life at stake here with my information! Keima he, he, he's just doing what he want! Whatever information he gets is not what he _wanted. _I have pride too, Ne-, Meizun! And my pride is that my information is as the most accurate and up-to-date! Isn't that _our_ motto too? That we will match _him_ or be better when it came to the _ideal_?'

Argo demanded angrily and her outburst made Meizun pause before her shoulders slumped.

'I... I know, I'm sorry... I shouldn't defend him so much like you said, but... but...'

Meizun don't know the words to explain her feelings, but she tried anyway, bravely as she shook her head.

'But I don't want to see him waste away like that. It's... our loss, Argo... he... I know he would make a _huge _difference if he tried.'

'_If_ he tried. I'm not holding my breath for that!'

Argo snorted before following Meizun's lead as she started clearing a path to the next town in the most productive manner, cutting through fields of monsters with her longsword.

* * *

..

'Any news from your side, Argo?'

'… No, none. The 'affluence' level has changed again. There are some new potions that are only available in the starting city now... the more they sell to the merchants in the town, the better. But there are also the players that are starting to be merchants. They're buying monster loot at the fields to sell to the merchants to turn a profit. That matches up with what we heard from Keima at any rate.'

Argo reported back with a scowl on her face. The fifth day hadn't been different from the others, only she was concerned that panic would start to kick in after the fifth day of being trapped here in SAO. It was only a matter of time before the players all realize that help was not coming, she had been in the minority in that she knew that no help was going to come.

Because if there was, contact would have been made from the outside world. The fact that it didn't simply meant that it even their hands were tied.

Argo had no doubts that Keima would not panic seeing how easy he was taking the whole situation. He didn't even seem anxious or worried about his life outside of SAO. Well, she herself was if he wasn't. But... she really should have expected that out of him, didn't she know what the **Capturing God** was like?

'I see... Keima-kun reported that he saw some...'

Meizun paused in her words, looking very nervous and that caused Argo to turn and look at her in confusion.

'What is it, Meizun?'

'… Keima-kun said he saw a few players jumping off Aincrad, Argo.'

Argo paled at that and she looked just as sick as Meizun when she continued after swallowing.

'The... players were listed as 'deceased'. The cause of death was recorded as well...'

Argo couldn't stop herself from choking out a small muffled sob at the news. Meizun was taking the news well, at least on first glance but Argo could see that she was trying hard not to throw up and she reached over to hug her instead.

'T-They... h-how could they?'

Meizun choked out in disbelief and Argo agreed, no one should in the right frame of mind could have done it! They had effectively taken their own lives, and their own chance of clearing the game out of their hands!

That... was just incredibly irresponsible and crazy of them.

'Th-They, probably couldn't take the stress of being stuck here, and this was just the fifth day... if this continues on.'

Meizun replied slowly, almost in slow motion and Argo looked up to see her reading from a PM.

'Was that, Keima?'

It had to be him, only someone like him could just ignore such a fact and not be affected! He, he wasn't human at all if he could just report and not help those people!

'Yes... Yes... it was Keima-kun... and he said that unless something changed, it was only going to get worse.'

Argo had to agree with him on that – now that there _were_ people who had taken their lives, it was like the first crack on the dam that been holding back an entire river. Although there isn't any proof that dying in Aincrad would cause them to die outside as well, people would normally never put their lives at risk to test such a theory out. But in desperation, one just might if they convinced themselves that they would be set free from this madness if they 'died'.

It wasn't just the fear of death that made people stressed out, although it definitely was a contributing factor, the most stressful part was the helplessness that one felt when and _if_ they tried to do something. Even if they were doing something, they were still unable to do _anything_ that could help them out of this place! Hope was running thin here, and for most people just waiting for help would slowly driving them mad with anticipation.

Most of the players who were fighting on the fields were trying to survive, or were trying to distract themselves from their newfound vulnerability by getting stronger.

Those that were left behind, or hadn't ventured out of the beginning city, not all of them were like Keima.

They were all normal people too afraid to leave the 'safety' of the city after all. And if a few cracked, then the rest... might follow in their footsteps if things didn't change.

'The players they are losing hope. If something doesn't change, more...will try and then everyone...'

Argo spoke softly in dread even as Meizun struggled to her feet, her face set and determined.

'I'm going to try again, Argo. This time, for sure.'

* * *

..

'All I'm asking... is for you to reconsider, Keima-kun. I know that you aren't experienced in MMORPGs, I wasn't at the start but I got better! And SAO makes it easy, you will pick it up with the assist system helping you.'

Meizun smiled encouragingly as she followed Keima outside of the town. Anything could happen in SAO and Meizun made sure that her sword was drawn and ready behind Keima. She believed that Keima knew what he was doing – but there was no such thing as being too prepared in SAO after all.

The fact that they were heading to a field that was populated by lower level monsters only reinforced that thought as this quest would be _too_ easy if there wasn't a catch somewhere along the way.

Unfortunately for Meizun, she would be proven right in the most terrible way possible.

..

Meizun was on guard the moment when Keima retrieved the lost item in the field, that was the most common cue for a monster to appear to ambush the party or the quest taker. It was just so clique that she was basically twitching and waiting for a monster to appear that she must have looked silly to Keima as the **Capturing God** raised an eyebrow at her.

'What's wrong?'

'N-No, nothing. I was just... expecting something to happen. You know, it's quite clique and common that quests this easy, would never be easy.'

Meizun replied sagely and she smiled when Keima agreed with her. That's true enough – if it was that easy to activate the quest and to finish it, the reward for the quest shouldn't be as high as this.

There got to be a catch somewhere and Keima looked around cautiously while Meizun did the same. With her sword drawn and ready, the two of them started to move cautiously towards the direction of the beginning city. Of course it had to happen when their guard was lowered, when they were within viewing distance of the beginning city.

With a deafening roar, a large wolfman monster howled while it crashed through the shrubbery that was to their right. Meizun would have engaged it immediately if not for how she noticed that it's target was Keima instead. The monster was probably fixated on the item that Keima had retrieved and she would have told Keima to run away if she had the time.

But she didn't have the time, it was just too sudden and it was going to take all that she had in her to save him.

Meizun did not hesitate, the scale that was being weighed in her mind did not include herself in the picture, only Keima and all the faith and trust she had in her.

'Keima-kun – watch out!'

So she moved, and pushed him out of the way, exposing her back as she did so.

..

Keima's eyes widened as he was pushed away from the path of the monster, away from the one that had howled fury.

The person who had pushed him away was the girl who had put so much faith in him, possible the strongest female player, or player of the game.

And he watched as her HP bar dropped to zero as her body was struck twice by the wolfmen whom was meant to attack him.

'M-Meizun?'

Keima spluttered out in shock as the wikia administrator smiled at him, not even noticing or perhaps just plain ignoring the fact that her HP had reached zero.

That she was dead.

She was, dead.

'I'm glad... that you're alright, Keima-kun.'

Her final words were spoken to the stricken Capturing God as she burst into endless polygons, killed out on the field.

* * *

**Author's Notes: None, I'll reply your reviews though!**


	4. Phase 4

**Of Mouse and Man**

**Phase 4****— ****Worse, Worse and Much Worse**

..

**Original Title: ****The World Only God Knows / ****神のみぞ知るセカイ ****& **_**Sword Art Online**_(ソードアート・オンライン)

**Original Concept by: Tamiki Wakiki & Kawahara Reki**

**written by: wrathie**

**Author's Notes: A Crossover where Keima was not approached by the Weiss Capturing Squad and the Events of the Goddess Arc is non-existent.**

* * *

**Author's Notes: Thank you, ****_bowpurity_**** for the beta and all the fixes!**

* * *

..

'It's YOUR FAULT! YOUR FAULT!'

Argo screamed at the **Capturing God, **Keima and would have continued to do if not for the look of utter misery and grief that he was showing on his face.

Argo hadn't wanted to believe, she didn't want to admit that her best friend had died after she had gone looking for Keima. She had learnt of the fact when their party had disbanded suddenly without any warning and she had feared the worst for her friend.

It had been finally confirmed when the status of 'deceased' had appeared beside Meizun's name in her friend list and she had rushed over as fast as she could over to Keima, the only person who would have all the answers for her.

So when she had discovered Keima struggling back to town with a haunted look on his face – she knew it was _his_ fault and had wasted no time in pulling him to the nearest inn to get all the facts from him.

Despite being a wreck, Argo did not let up from her thirst in knowing exactly _what_ happened. Why did she die? How did she die? Did she say something? What happened? Why did it happen? Could there be some mistake? Could she be still alive? Is she, really, dead?

So many questions but all of that was made irrelevant when the first thing that Keima said to her was – 'Why did you die for me?'

He was still out of it, that was why she was looking at Argo when he blurted that line out to her without thinking. All Argo felt though was rage, anger and disbelief at what had been revealed to her.

It wasn't unlikely at all that Meizun would do just that, Argo was aware of that from how she had behaved over the past few days. She had _never_ thought that Meizun would go _that_ far when she told her that she was meeting the **Capturing God** online at SAO. She had severely underestimated the faith that Meizun had for him and she had paid the ultimate price for it.

So Argo raised her voice and shouted at him. Nothing less would suffice to show her anger and frustration besides trying to kill him herself.

Because if she did that, then what Meizun did was rendered useless and she was not going to let her _sister_'s sacrifice be for nothing.

'YOU KILLED HER! ALL BECAUSE YOU – YOU IDIOT!'

Argo couldn't say the words out without choking, it was not all Keima's fault, if Meizun had just let the other player be and kept on looking ahead at what was necessary– this might not have happened. Argo guessed that they had met with stronger opposition than Meizun was able to handle, and with a liability as that coward, even a mob that she was capable of holding back would be a deadly enemy.

She had lost her battle with mortality _because_ of him, because she _would_ protect him with the best of her abilities because she saw so much in Keima.

If her sister didn't, she wouldn't have died for him. That was also the _only_ reason that didn't stop Argo from finishing the job herself like she had said so earlier.

But screaming at Keima was not going to get Meizun back, nor was she going to get _anything_ done if she couldn't work past the grief, anger and pain at losing Meizun like this – to a person who was obviously _not_ worth it!

'Y-You're not that great after all! You're nothing! Not when compared to her! Sh-She did so much, she even SAVED people! And what did you do?! You did NOTHING! Nothing at all! Your life isn't worth half of what she was! Give her back, you idiot! Give, her, BACK TO ME!'

So Argo took it out on Keima, her hands reached out to grab his shoulders and she shook him hard, and without any remorse. There's nothing that Keima could do to stop her from this last right that she had as Meizun's confidant – that of being angry for _her_ sake. Even if Argo knew that Meizun would _not_ be angry, she might even find it an a honor to die for the **Capturing God**, but she wasn't _her!_ She would feel angry for her, just like how everyone else would feel if one of their friends had to die for a worthless scum when she could have just ignored him.

'Give her back, DAMNIT! KEIMAA!'

Argo screamed as she slapped Keima, knocking him to the floor before mounting him, her legs pressing his arms together as she rained blows down on him. Or tried to at least as the system threw Argo off after issuing her with a harassment warning within the city grounds. It was partly a feature to stop players from attacking another and the other was the enforcement of the Ethics codes on all players. The Ethics codes would trigger no matter the location after all.

Struggling to her feet, Argo gave a wail of anger and despair when it became obvious that she couldn't do anything more if she wanted to avoid the fate of being thrown into the city prison. She had gotten a warning from the system to stop attacking another player. It was probably due to the ethics code did it activate like that, normally attacks on players would be rewarded by the attacker's attack rebounding back on them – at least within the city grounds.

There was nothing that Argo could do besides screaming at him then – and scream she did, she painstakingly wanted to make him remember and experience the pain that she felt from losing Meizun in such a fashion so that he would never forget this day for the rest of his miserable life.

* * *

..

Katsuragi Keima, the **Capturing God** had done many things in his life. There were things he did wrong and things he did right, but the majority of the things he did, he did them right and he did them good.

He was the **Capturing God** after all and in the _ideal_ he was the best, and would continue to be the best there ever was. Till this incident, till he failed someone that he _shouldn't _have in the _ideal_. Now SAO was not the _ideal_, but it was slowly shaping up to be one. A place where he was not judged by others, where he would be accepted by those who mattered.

Didn't the governor of the starting city recognize his efforts and even rewarded him for it? Didn't Jessica, Tracy and all the other shop owners happily included him inside their lives? Even if this was a lie, it was still a _ideal. _Besides, it wasn't that he wasn't doing _nothing_ for the other players that were trapped here.

He was constantly updating the list of quests, working on hidden mechanics of SAO itself without any prior information to fall back on at all. It could be argued that he was doing very well despite his lack of commitment to levelling himself up.

But apparently that wasn't enough as he had still grossly miscalculated, he had been too arrogant, too proud of his own abilities that he had been caught blind by the monster that had taken the life of her most ardent follower in SAO.

It was supposed to be a simple fetch and return quest in an area filled with monsters that Keima could easily outrun or avoid. That was the only reason that he had accepted this quest in the first place. Subjugation quests were common and lucrative, but the risks and investment involved in finishing the quests meant that sometimes it just wasn't worth it. Compared to them, fetch and return quests were much easier and rewarded the player with similar returns.

Meizun hadn't protested or looked nervous when he had found the item at the coordinates specified on the quest. Meizun... was different, Keima acknowledged that before, but it was only upon reflecting, upon remembering what the two of them had done for the past 5 days did it became clear that Meizun online was different from Meizun the player in SAO.

It wasn't unthinkable, people communicate differently through different mediums after all and it wouldn't be the first time that someone would appear different in the _ideal_ and in the _real_. It's doubly convincing when Meizun was totally different when it came to combat in SAO. She had been up front clearing the route for him to go through and Keima humoured her by not running towards the location instead.

Meizun had spent the entire time telling him about how despair and panic would soon sweep through the community when it became obvious that _no help_ was coming from the outside world. That they were trapped here, and was unlikely to _ever _leave until someone cleared the game. That suited Keima just fine, and he told Meizun so, that he didn't mind it here.

It was a game that could _evolve_ like she said it could, and he was excited to see the evolution of the intelligence of the game if only in a few days, NPCs could effectively learn and start being more than just the sum of parts. Keima couldn't help to listen to the backstory and the history of Aincrad. A world like this would have their own origin and mythology, and if there wasn't, what's stopping others from just _making_ them with their exploits.

Keima had been too caught up with his own hopes for the game, singing it's praises just like how Meizun had did so to him before the official launch of SAO.

It both embarrassed and horrified Keima to remember what had happened then. Meizun had been more than willing to indulge in his own fanciful hopes for SAO even if he was trapped here despite him not doing the same for her during the beta-phase of SAO.

That was the embarrassing part, the horrific part was how that it was due to his own lengthy speech did he fail to notice the monster that spawned beside him. The ferocious roar had locked his legs, and he turned to slow, to late as his brain processed the information.

Meizun had reacted faster than him however and she had pushed him away from the monster without hesitation, not even shouting a warning. Her eyes were locked onto his own even as the wolfman swung at her. His eyes burned the image of the wolfman's claws sinking into her heart, bringing her HP down from green to zero in a single slash..

If she could defend herself, if she could have reacted, no doubt the outcome would be better, but with that decisive blow and her open guard, her fate was sealed.

..

In those short but yet too long seconds that marked the end of Meizun's life, Katsuragi Keima found himself just frozen with shock.

He had failed, he had _failed, _he had _**failed to save her. **_There was no other way to explain the situation other than it was the most soul crushing moment of his entire life then. Even with the praises that others sung of him, all the things that he had claimed that he had done, he had been unable to protect those that were around him – that believed him.

It hurt, it hurt like nothing else in the world hurt and Keima's mind almost blanked out till he remembered what Meizun had said with her last breath.

..

The wikia administrator's last words – that she still believed in him made him move and start running from the monster that had taken her life. That she was happy he was safe. That was the reason he got away, for he had fled, and ran after all traces of the girl that he had acknowledged, had found amusing but at the same time to be maybe a friend, disappear from this world due to _his _mistake.

He couldn't get killed after she gave her life for him – not when she exchanged her life for _his._

And that's why, right now, even when confronted by Argo who practically demanded his death, could Keima still manage a reply to her.

'I'm sorry.'

Keima answered softly to the surprise of Argo. Was he really apologizing? Or was it just an act to get her off his back? She didn't know any more and she wasn't certain till Keima followed that line with a small smile.

'I-I'm so, so sorry... p-please, forgive me...'

He was asking forgiveness, the **Capturing God** was asking forgiveness from another player, and that was enough to take Argo off his case even she looked unsure on what to do next.

* * *

..

Argo let him be, no, that wasn't quite right. Argo abandoned him. She gave up on him, that much was certain as Meizun's name was the only one left in his Friend List.

Argo had deleted him from hers, and Keima couldn't blame her for doing that. She was right in that it was his fault, that he had let her down and that there was _nothing_ he could do to bring her back.

Keima had nothing to defend himself against Argo at all – it was his fault after all. From the get go, Argo had always seemed a little sceptical and wary of him, which was a very reasonable thing to do. Keima pegged the other female player as a shrewd player who was very worldly wise who was as nosy as heck. She kept trying to learn more about him and like himself – to place him with her own eyes and judgement. Perhaps it served as a way to come up with potential material to persuade him to help her out?  
It wasn't like him to be so vindictive or judgement at the start, but Argo was definitely someone that Keima believed could go far in the death game. Her giving up on him after what he had done to her _friend_, to someone who was close to her. That much was very obvious from how shaken and angry she was at him.

Anyone would actually, and Keima found himself horribly detached as he spent his time going in circles in his mind.

He had to reflect, he had to think, he had to find a way out of this feeling of pain, suffering, despair, anger and self-loathing that he had caused himself to feel.

It hurt, it _really_ hurt and it was not going to get better if he doesn't do _something_!

So what could he do? Keima asked himself that question endlessly as he got to his feet. He barely remembered where he was. He knew that the room's rental - where Argo had dragged him into was paid for by her and he would be kicked out of the place soon if he did not get out of the room. Argo would have the power to do so, and being kicked out in an undignified manner was _not_ going to help his situation any better.

Even if he wasn't thinking right now, his mind was endlessly looping the image of Meizun dying in front of her. Only it was being twisted or distorted with each repetition, the first time it was her taking the blow for him like always. The second time was him being forced to watch in the view of the monster, of his startled look as he was pushed away and then him slashing Meizun with his claws. The next was from a third person view and so on. It was like what Argo was trying to do, his own mind trying to force him to remember every _single_ detail.

It just tore him up even more as he staggered down the stairs, not even managing to even register or recognize the NPCs as well as the players who saw him en route to the inn that he had always preferred to rent a room n.

'Welcome back, Keima-san...?'

The innkeeper, Tracy greeted Keima with a smile but for once Keima did not return it. He had a haunted look that made the NPC Tracy hesitate. It was a great feat of 'evolution' that made an NPC able to sense or to recognize moods from a player, perhaps Tracy wasn't an NPC after all? It was a huge breakthrough and Keima _would_ be all over it if not for him being just too out of it to contemplate the development.

He did file that thought away and promised himself that he would investigate that phenomenon at another date. Such was the way of the **Capturing God**.

'Keima-san? Are you alright?'

The NPC asked with a touch of worry but Keima ignored her and just headed to his room, closing the door softly behind him before locking it as an after thought.

He needed to be alone, no he wanted to be alone, to think through his thoughts and to find out what had gone wrong. No, he knew what had went wrong. He was the **Capturing God**, he knew _everything_ and at the same time knew nothing

The question now was: What was he going to do about it? Was he going to make amends? How was he going to make amends, all of that needed to be thought through.

And he'll have to do it the only way he knew how – alone.

..

The next few days passed in a flash for Keima – the nightmarish days and nights was only made worse as every time he tried to sleep, the same sequence appeared in his dreams.

Of Meizun dying. It was always her, although there was one instance when instead of it being Meizun, it was Argo – and that was definitely the worst of the lot as far as Keima was concerned.

The spiteful and vindictive look that Argo gave her before she disappeared tore at him again, but ironically at the same time made him feel just a tad better.

If Meizun had just hated him for it, he might have gotten over it a little easier. Instead, Meizun had trusted and believed in him till the end. That kind of responsibility and weight on his shoulders, it _wasn't_ the best thing to work with at all times.

But he was the **Capturing God**, that meant he _had_ to live up to her expectations as much as she would, and nothing less would suffice.

So Katsuragi Keima, or Keima as he was known in SAO, stepped out of his room for the first time in several days.

* * *

..

Argo looked politely confused when she heard a knock on the door of the small house that she had rented outside of the beginning city. She had been burying herself in work for the past week due to what had happened to _her_, to her...sister as if she didn't do so, she would have gone insane.

After leaving that coward and pathetic excuse for a human behind, Argo had headed out to do what she did best – to gather information and to hit up on her usual contacts in SAO.

The beta-testers were always in the market for new quests, new buyers for their drops as well as in locating new potential team-mates to improve their skills out in the field.

It helped that her sister had build up quite a base of players who always wanted to party with her.

Of course the most painful part was telling them her sister has passed on, that Meizun, the strongest player had died. It was of cold comfort that the advise Argo had been able to give about the quest that Keima had taken was able to save several smaller squads from the same fate.

It was also worth mentioning that particular quests' reward was a prerequisite for other quests that would help the affluence level of the town – leading to the unlocking of higher level potions that would serve all of them well.

But besides from that debilitating pain that she felt whenever she had to give the news that her sister was dead, that she was convinced that she would never see her again and no, that it _wasn't_ a lie.

Argo had broken down a few times when she had to deliver that news, but had rallied well after that to finish the conversation in the most professional manner possible.

Life went on in SAO, and if one meant that she had to watch more people jump down from Aincrad in a desperate to get free – than life went on normally.

It was like what all three of them had agreed on, there was only so much stress that one could take before something had to give. And the fact that they might _really_ need to clear the game, to clear 100 floors of this monster infested world was not comforting.

The weaker willed individuals snapped first and had taken their lives, Argo found that incredibly cowardly and selfish of themselves to do that.

Yes, their lives were in their hands – but if their actions caused others to contemplate the same actions, then it wasn't fair, was it?

But there was nothing that Argo could do for those who choose to do that, nor could she do anything for those that considered it. Argo's priorities was to help those individuals who wanted to fight, who didn't want to die a meaningless death and to do _something._

..

Incidentally it was also around that time when another fact about SAO was revealed. It hadn't been very well known that buildings and houses could be rented, only players with significant funds could afford that – but that everything and _anything_ could possibly rented in SAO if one approached the mayor of each town.

That much was revealed when all the signboards of the beginning city and the other two towns had announcements listed on them one morning without anyone noticing.

The announcements were nothing spectacular on the first day, they only announced the newest version of the 'Field Guide to Aincrad' and that one could actually purchase it at any merchant shop in the city.

Argo was appreciative of the free publicity, there were still players who were not aware of what the guide could do to help them. With all the signboards around the city and the entrances of town showing that announcement, Argo wasn't that surprised when the sales from the guide almost tripled after that day.

It was a good thing, information was power after all and having such information on hand definitely helped soothed the nerves of some of the weaker players – which lead to a drop in suicide attempts immediately after that day.

Whoever thought of that plan to help the players cope was a genius, and earned the respect of Argo whose motto of information sharing matched up with hers.

It made some of the pain disappear when she knew that her and her sister's work was being acknowledged by the anonymous contributor to their cause. It still hurt, especially when the cause of death for Meizun was 'Killed by A Field Boss'.

It was a constant reminder on how unpredictable SAO could become, and Argo was considering making the phrase 'Unpredictability means Loss' as her official motto after what had befallen her sister.

The announcements on the town after first day included useful but trivial information like the amount of players left in the game, the affluence level of each town as well as the current expected weather of Aincrad.

It does rain in Aincrad after all, and it was during one those dreary rainy days that the knock came on her door.

..

Surprised, Argo called for her visitor to wait for her. It wasn't that she didn't have guests, but most of her clients would rather _she_ meet _them_ rather than the other way around. Then again, it could be a new client or a random player who had been caught in the growing storm.

What she did not expect, was for Keima to be at the door and for him to force his way in despite Argo's attempt to slam the door at his face.

'What are you doing here!'

She hissed angrily while fighting the urge to end his life here right now without hesitation. How _dare_ he had the cheek to come and waltzed in like he did _nothing!_

'I, I can't offer you my life for her. Because... she, gave it for me... and because of that, my life, is her life... And I won't let it go that easily.'

Keima's words made Argo pause and the grip on her dagger weakened slightly when Keima lowered his eyes before requesting a friend request to Argo.

'I'll take responsibility for taking your sister's life.'

* * *

**Author's Notes Thank you for your support so far! Did i reply all of your reviews? If I didn't, please forgive me! **


	5. Phase 5

**Of Mouse and Man**

**Phase 5****— ****Making it Work**

..

**Original Title: ****The World Only God Knows / ****神のみぞ知るセカイ ****& **_**Sword Art Online**_(ソードアート・オンライン)

**Original Concept by: Tamiki Wakiki & Kawahara Reki**

**written by: wrathie**

**Author's Notes: A Crossover where Keima was not approached by the Weiss Capturing Squad and the Events of the Goddess Arc is non-existent.**

* * *

**Author's Notes: Thank you, ****_bowpurity_**** for the beta!**

**Note: I would have replied you, ****_Verdekiel, _****but the webpage ate my reply. And i spent half an hour on it too!**

* * *

..

Argo wanted to say something, she should say something, or maybe she _did_ said something after Keima's announcement. But she couldn't remember, everything just happened so fast that Argo found herself unable to recall _exactly_ what happened, detail by detail, word for word.

She remembered her slapping him, that much she was sure, she remembered her dismissing the friend request from him.

She remembered hissing as she grabbed his collar despite her shorter height, dismissing the _second _friend request from him.

She hit him, she was sure, she was _not_ given a warning for that as they were not in the city. There was no harassment warning, she remembered because she kept on hitting him.

Did she say something? Maybe, but she was crying. Argo was crying because seeing him, seeing _Keima_, the person who had killed her sister re-opened her wounds in ways that she didn't think was possible.

It tore at her, because everything she hit him, she could see her face – and Meizun's pleas for her to _not_ hurt him or dismiss him.

Well, tough, Keima _killed_ Meizun with his bare hands even if he did nothing to her.

So she kept on hitting him, her pounding on him getting weaker as she lost her strength and fury.

Argo wasn't sure if she was hurting him, or if he had drank potions to keep himself healthy. Heck, maybe he was at a higher level now in her absence. She didn't know, because by the end of it, when she had stopped hitting him, she was in an awkward embrace with the taller boy. Her face was pressed against his chest, and she was listening to the sound of him breathing while she regained her senses.

No, while she regained control of her emotions. Her tears hadn't stopped running, she thought that they would _never_ do that but she was a strong woman.

A strong person, much stronger than that person who had just _waltzed_ in saying he was going to take _responsibility_ of getting her sister killed. Meizun, the one who should have been leading everyone right now.

How could he do that? How?!

'…'

As if in response to her wordless question, Keima eased Argo off, letting her stand with her own strength while staring at him warily.

Her eyes widened when the same offer for a friend request popped up before a mail was sent to her.

'What... is this?'

Argo asked stiffly even as she opened the mail, and to her surprise it was a listing of quests detailing their rewards, method of clearing as well as the prerequisite to activate the quest in the first place.

'This concludes all the quests that I had activated, finished as well as catalogued for the beginning city. It would be prudent for it to to be published in the next edition of the Field Guide…. It also has a category of 'risk' quests, where rare and strong monsters would spawn while the quest is being completed.'

Argo inhaled in sharply before she could hide her shock at the extent of information that Keima had gathered by himself. He was good, really good as he had managed to unearth much more than she had been able to with her informants.

It _shouldn't _be that easy but it had been, for him at least and it made Argo splutter in a mix of outrage and awe before she recovered.

'Is that it? Is that all you have do-'

Keima surprised her again when he shook his head and instead said that the announcements on all the signboards was him as well. The fact that he had the funds, or at least the influence or the means to do so was surprising by itself and Argo found herself biting her lips before the clincher from Keima.

'Meizun made me promise...'

Keima started but the mention of that name only made Argo's anger and frustration rose slightly more. Her hands were trembling and she _would_ have reached out to knock his head off if he hadn't continued quickly enough.

'She wanted the two of us to change SAO, to revolutionize SAO with our strengths. You... know how Meizun was.'

Oh she knew, of course she knew, and she _thought_ she knew Keima too! So what does it matter? Why does it matter now when it's too late?

'I didn't want to, but it seemed like I have no choice. I... I will finish it, for her... and for myself. Would you, lend me your strength?'

Keima asked meekly, well, meekly was the wrong word – he asked her for help. Her, Argo, whom he knew hated him with a vengeance. Her, Argo, who said she wanted _nothing_ to do with him. Who had all but abandoned him in a fit of anger.

Really?

Was he so thick skinned? Had he no shame at all? Why was he asking something so incredibly _impossible_ that she could _never_ condone it? It was – it was impossible for him to really _believe_ that she would accept? That she would help the person who caused her sister's death?

But then, but then... if he wanted to make amends, _if_ he was serious then... It'll be what her sister wanted, right?

It hurt, it definitely hurt but it'll be _right_. She'll be alright with it_. _That much, Argo knew.

So...

'Please, Argo.'

Keima asked again, louder than he had initially and that was the clincher that made Argo gave a disgusted sigh before wiping the tears from her eyes. Pushing him away, Argo's eyes glowered with anger, hate, unhappiness before finally resonating with resignedness. She was the _Rat_, she knew her role – and her role now was to ensure that information, the one unseen weapon would be wielded by everyone. If this man was prepared to take up the responsibility of his actions, then so be it.

'F-Fine.'

Argo answered with a grimace while Keima's eyes lightened significantly at her reply. It was not a victory for both parties, it was a promise, an amendment, or atonement for her lost sister.

That, made it a little better.

'I won't take it easy on you, Keima, I won't. Remember that!'

* * *

..

Leaving Argo's room and heading into his own, Keima gave a soft sigh of satisfaction. She didn't catch the hint, but no doubt, she would after she had read through the information that he had given her. Sitting at his desk, he opened up his menu screen, looking through the messages and drafts that he had written.

Meizun's death would not be in vain. The very scene was burned into his eyes, and he could remember each and every detail. The first information he gained was that there was a category of quests that would 'spawn' rare monsters, dangerous monsters. He had named it Risk quests, a clear warning of what the quests would do. The Wolfmen that had killed Meizun did not spawn anywhere near the area, and after a few testing, he realized that it would spawn near quest takers when players were in sight of town, no matter where they were as they approached safety. After his recovery, he had only found two more risk quests and he slayed the monsters with dark satisfaction.

..

And the second, and more important information he had was a method. Meizun's level was at 8, but the monster that rushed at them was at lv 5, just a level above his own. As much as he hated SAO's mechanics of numbers, the very same rule should state that Meizun should not have fallen after only two hits.

So why then, why did she fall? The claws of the werewolf didn't just go through her body, they went through her rib cage, her heart. The next attack wasn't aimed at the body as well, it landed straight on her neck.

As the claw went past her body once more, she had given him a smile, even as her eyes told him that she was in fear.

"_I believe in you."_

No…. there's no point in tears. No longer. He had cried for a day. That was enough. No more regrets. The method... he has yet to confirm it, but it seems that there were 'areas' on monsters and players which SAO would design as 'critical' areas. Successfully attacking those areas with the correct angle of attack would deal almost double to triple damage to the monster.

He looked at the draft in front of him, listing out his findings of all the critical parts of a monster, before closing it with a sigh. There was a good reason why he kept this information to himself for now… The 'critical' areas were just that, and after a few monsters, he noticed that the Monster AI took some effort to avoid or deflect blows that were aimed at the area. It took him by surprise at first but he survived the encounter. There was a chance that his information might cause a player to overextend himself, thus causing his death, and so he kept this information to himself.

Perhaps if there was an advanced guide to SAO… but that's for the future. It wouldn't bring good results to reveal this now.

* * *

..

It has been a month, one month of being stuck in the game known as SAO and there was a marked improvement from what had happened in the first week.

For one, the amount of suicides, yes, it was right to call them suicides at this point – had dropped almost to zero.

That was due mostly to the players having settled down into their new fate and role in SAO. One thing was sure though, the humans were very good at adapting, especially if their lives were at stake.

Even if adapting to the situation was to hide in the beginning city, doing the barest minimum to keep themselves alive – it was also a way of adapting to the situation.

It wasn't perfect, but at least people weren't taking their lives without any reason any more.

Secondly, the amount of players who actually headed out to fight in the fields, to gain strength to clear the game had increased as well. The margin of safety for the players had increased tremendously and that was thanks to more information about the game being steadily released by the information brokers and sellers of SAO.

That constant feed of information mostly came from Argo_the Rat_ as well as Keima, the two forerunners of information gathering and distribution.

It took only one month, but the information that they were able to gather was able to stabilize the entirety of the ten thousand players that were stuck in the first floor.

The map of the first floor had been quickly determined and updated with information on the level and types of mobs in each area for all the players to plot and map their own training grounds.

List of quests, merchant shops, monster drops, player customization lists and etc were all available in the Field Guide to Aincrad published by the two of them. There were also a listing of player shops, recommended selling prices and FAQS on how to survive and thrive in SAO. Most importantly though and as courtesy from Keima and Argo, - party requests were constantly being updated on all the signboards around the towns enabling players to find scouting, hunting or gathering parties.

There was of course a limit to how much information could be disseminated without direct contact and that was where Keima shone. More often than not when one entered the house that housed Keima and Argo, one would see him replying and reading personal mails at a rate that one would call it impossible.

His hands would blur and one would almost swear that he had more than one pair of hands as he typed furiously, replying all the mails he had without any hesitation or rest. It was as if he had everything memorized in his mind.

..

'…'

Argo looked up from her seat on the couch to frown at Keima. Even after working with him for a few weeks, that sight of him replying mails as fast as he did brought a measure of discomfort to her. It just wasn't natural, he was pushing himself to an absurd degree but no one else could achieve the same rate he did.

He made it a point to reply to all mails sent from 0800 hrs to 1100 hrs immediately, and would reply the rest after 1400 hrs where he and Argo would head to to check with their informants. Yes, their informants. One couldn't expect so much information gathering to be done through themselves alone?

Keima had his own sources with the NPCs in each town which he gleamed valuable information from while Argo had her own informants under her payroll whose sole purpose was to map the area, report on suspicious circumstances and to take on the quests that Keima had discovered or unearthed.

If it was possible, Argo herself would be out on the field to speak with potential clients, she was also a key figure in the barter and trade that happened between the players.

That had only gotten a little more complicated when all the player merchants had – after being convinced by the two of them, to band together to stabilize the prices of player crafted items.

It wasn't uncommon to see gathering teams out on the field buying loot from the players who were out hunting. There was only so much one could carry after all and there were times where they would need to replenish supplies out on the field as well.

There was quite a roaring trade and it had started to affect the affluence level of the towns and would only get worse if nothing was done about it.

The player merchants had a tough time trying to control the prices from inflating and decreasing significantly between cities and eventually they had succeeded.

The details, sweat the details, was one of the key reasons why Keima and Argo had visitors today, the two visitors stepping in after knocking on the door.

..

'Good afternoon, Argo-san.'

'Yo, Argo. Guess Keima's still busy, huh?'

Lisbeth and Agil, the two representatives from the player-merchant guild that they had managed to tie together, greeted as they entered. All of the aspiring merchants, or players whom were already merchants were 'allied' to the information network that Keima had helped Argo established.

It had been difficult to accept it, but despite Keima's inability to communicate well with any one, he had a glib tongue and his sharp mind had reasoned them to agreeing.

Even Argo didn't have a tongue as glib as his was – that man could confound anyone to follow his instructions.

Or just bore them to death, she was certain that some of the player-merchants had fallen asleep during his rant about how the economy of SAO could be controlled.

Well, he was at least focused on his promise. It had been very awkward the first night as well as the week that had followed to know that her sister's killer was sleeping in the same house as she was. But he worked hard, and produced results. They were supporting the players out in the fields in ways that she had not thought they could.

They had uncovered the location of the first floor's boss monster and today was the day where a meeting was to be held for all the players wanting to clear the first floor.

'He always is. One day his hand would cramp up and you'll see what happens. Anyway, going to the meeting later?'

Argo asked with a smirk as Agil nodded his head. The older, larger and dark-skinned man was more of a clearer that would like to be out on the fields than selling stuff.

At least at the start, that had changed when Argo had caught him giving a set of armor and weapon to a player who had gotten cheated of his stuff by a rogue band of players.

Oh, those players were easily blacklisted thanks to Keima's help but the fact was that Agil was a kind and fair man had always stuck with Argo and to Keima.

'Wouldn't miss it for the world. Most of the clearers are having problems leveling up at this point. We probably reached the cap of this level... But the boss of each floor is supposed to be something else, right? The more hands we have on hand, the better.'

Lisbeth, the brunette who was the best female blacksmith nodded with a nervous smile as well.

'We've prepared our best equipment for the meeting too. I... well, they are a bit expensive, but we got some of our merchants there ready to barter with them. It's... still business, so sorry.'

Lisbeth sounded apologetic but Argo just laughed and said that it'll be fine.

'Getting us to help gather all the players was business too – even if you know, Keima says that we should do it for free.'

'And I stand by that statement.'

Keima spoke up suddenly, his eyes looking up from his navigation window to frown at Argo. The man had a really nasty look that could never be replicated no matter what Argo tried. Still, all of them who had worked with Keima knew that was his _work_ face. It was funny because he didn't seem to find it funny.

'Coordinating all the players would also help us to keep a list on the status of all the active players out on the field. They are our potential clients – we are the ones profiteering from this.'

'But we're not a charity, I don't want Diabel to try any funny business like asking for favors after this. A business means we get _paid_. It doesn't matter who asks us for help, we get _paid _for doing work.'

Argo stressed the word and Keima backed down while his hands never stopped moving.

..

'Agil, Lisbeth.'

Acknowledgement from Keima was all and good, but they weren't here for the cookies that Argo was nibbling on. Besides, Argo was working too, she was in conversation with someone else. Even if she seemed too amused and was giggling, they knew that was her _work_ face too.

'R-Right, the prices of the [Boar Pelts] and the [Rabbit Fur] had started to rise again. That can't be helped as there are less players who are hunting the low level mobs. At the same time everyone is starting to converge at the areas where the [Buffalo] mobs are spawning. There'll be complications in the future as many are camping at the place.'

Lisbeth reported to Keima as the female blacksmith and merchants were mostly out on the field as part of the supply and gathering parties to buy monster drops from the players out on the field. That served as somewhat of a supply line from the fields back to the towns.

Although common sense dictate that they would be safer in the towns, it was also true that they were able to bargain significantly better than their male counterparts.

'That doesn't really hurt out production or the rate of returns that we can obtain from the cities. The equipment that can be made from those two low levelled materials are hitting their cap anyway. They aren't good for upgrading either...'

Agil continued while Lisbeth nodded. One benefit of having a controlled and centralized economy, even if it was one that was set up in a few weeks, was that it levelled the playing field significantly for all players.

Well, it was less helpful for those that actually went out to take quests that granted rarer and better equipment unable to be bought in the first floor.

'How's the experimentation of the forging mechanics working out?'

'To be honest I think we're at a dead end. The few blacksmiths,'

Agil give Lisbeth a proud look while she blushed.

'-that had reached level 10 are now nearing level 11 in their skills. But we believe we're limited by the materials that we could work with.'

'I see, I guess that can't be helped. Have we worked out the best combination for upgrading weapons?'

'We have better success there, but we are still limited by materials. The best results so far came from that level 8 quests that offered the copper ore as a quest reward. But since players could only take that quest once, it's impossible to actually craft a 'best' weapon for everyone.'

'And it doesn't suit everyone too. The upgrade that copper ore provides for the weapon doesn't match particular styles as it decreases the durability a little.'

'… I see, well, at least we're making progress. I apologize for asking the two of you to come over every day.'

Keima nodded and just sighed when Argo shouted that it was business. Argo and Lisbeth were being paid to take on such 'experimentations' by Keima. Not that they wouldn't, but Keima insisted that they do and he would even pay for their materials to do so.

One would wonder how Keima gathered those funds and it was quite simple, he was gaining a small cut from coordinating all the merchant shops and spreading any new details with them as well.

He was just paying them out of their own pocket – something that Argo admitted was quite devious of him.

'It's about time, shall we?'

Keima stood up from his seat and gave a small nod when Lisbeth and Agil mirrored his actions. He was glad to make acquaintances of the two players, even if he felt more than a little awkward that they treated him like their technical superior. Well, it's nothing to be fully concerned about, as long as he does what he promised, no one would complain about what he did to achieve them, right?

* * *

..

'I wonder why you even come to the meeting if you're not even going to make contacts, Keima.'

Argo hissed angrily at Keima who didn't even pay attention as he was replying more messages that he had received while waiting for the meeting of all the clearers to begin.

Unlike Argo, who was greeting and familiarizing herself with as many of the players that had gathered, Keima had just spoke quickly to Lisbeth and Argo before they had went to meet up with the other player merchants that Keima had asked them to prepare all the equipment for. The atmosphere had been tense, but when the player merchants had started shouting their wares – much to the surprise of the gathered players, the entire mood had gotten a bit more relaxed.

Sort of like a carnival, a little any way as the players started haggling with the merchants to get better deals.

Argo was of course in the thick of it, she was quite a famous figure after all and many of the clearers, as they were termed, knew her.

It was a good time to mingle around, offer some tips to players she had never met and even to be introduced to others by the clearers themselves.

Argo didn't mind all that, her business was best conducted person to person after all and she was happy and excited for the chance to know how many players had gathered to take on the first floor boss.

She was willing to give all the information she had to the leader of this group, which would have been Meizun had she not…

..

Argo shook her head as she stopped herself from thinking those dark and spiraling thoughts that would no doubt bring about only pain for her and for him.

It had only been a few weeks and Argo had started to forgive Keima for what he had done, what he had done unwittingly and that's… so like her actually.

'I did not come here to socialize and to make contacts, Argo. I came here to participate in the meeting. I am doing what I can to ensure that everyone is prepared and equipped fully in the best way possible.'

'And I say that you should at least see the people that you're trying to help. It's fine and good to write all the thesis and the analysis and give all the recommendations on what have already been discovered and another thing to actually apply them.'

Argo argued while raising an eyebrow at him only to sigh when Keima did the same. She knew the point was moot as Keima had walked the talk, he had personally finished all the quests that he had published and knew the best way to clear them with the most profit.

Not to mention his own player level was comparable to many of the players that were assembled today. So was hers, a result of Argo tagging along with Keima as he took on new quests from the mayor of each town.

There were no more new quests available for the two of them and it had freed them to start using that knowledge to benefit the players more like what they were doing now.

'The meeting is about to start at any rate…'

Keima dismissed Argo just like how he dismissed his navigation window with a flick of his wrist.

'Sometimes I wonder how I tolerate you at all.'

* * *

**Author's Notes: Thank you for your interest! I hope I can keep this up too!**


	6. Phase 6

**Of Mouse and Man**

**Phase 6****— ****Awkwardly**

..

**Original Title: ****The World Only God Knows / ****神のみぞ知るセカイ ****& **_**Sword Art Online**_(ソードアート・オンライン)

**Original Concept by: Tamiki Wakiki & Kawahara Reki**

**written by: wrathie**

**Author's Notes: A Crossover where Keima was not approached by the Weiss Capturing Squad and the Events of the Goddess Arc is non-existent.**

* * *

**Author's Notes: Thank you, ****_bowpurity_****, for the beta!**

* * *

..

Argo huffed before she settled down to listen to the blue-haired player who had walked to the center of the stadium and up the raised platform that they had all surrounded.

'Good afternoon everyone, I hope to have all of your attention!'

The good looking individual waited for everyone's attention to be on him before he started, smiling appreciatively as the player merchants moved to the side as well.

'First of all, I would like to personally thank Argo-san for helping to spread the word throughout the town. We have a huge turn out thanks to you, for that, I thank you sincerely.'

Argo for her part simply stood up and waved back casually.

'No problem, Diabel! Just remember, if you need something, anything, just look for Argo the Rat and her partner – Keima.'

She ended with a flourish, bowing while Keima simply nodded patiently beside her.

He was not claiming credit for this, even if he was the one who was analyzing, drawing conclusions as well as publishing the discoveries in SAO, he was not the one who interacted with all the players.

Argo was the one who did that, she was a natural in human interaction and as such was the face of the organization. It was of course what he expected it to be, he could not perform the role of interacting with others. That was not his forte at all and definitely not what his skill-set determined it to be.

He was not a people person, and it showed as on many occasions he had angered the individuals he was trying to hire or recruit for. One of the reasons that Lisbeth and Agil was sent as the representative was that they could tolerate Keima, tolerate was the key word, the two of them had trouble speaking with him on even terms as well.

Even terms, as if he'll allow others to treat him in the same level, only Argo and Meizun could do that. He owed them after all.

'Let's start, first of all we would be going through the information that we know about the first floor boss – Ilfang the Kobold Lord.'

Diabel started the ball rolling only for someone to interrupt him by jumping up to the platform with a growl.

'Before we begin, there's people in the crowd that have to answer some damn questions!'

* * *

..

The spiky-haired man, Kibaou, called for all the beta-testers to identify themselves and apologize for leaving the new players behind in order when they should have used their experience to help all of them.

The argument was that instead of hoarding strength, they should have distributed them – and since they failed, they had caused the death of many of the new players who would have benefited from the help.

His argument struck close to Keima's heart, he wasn't entirely right, but he wasn't entirely wrong either. It would really depend on how empathetic one was.

But his demands that all the beta-testers should come out and apologize, compensate for all the suffering however was just over the top and stupid.

Kibaou… was it?

'That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.'

Keima interrupted him by speaking out smoothly and calmly. Pushing his glasses up, he kept his calm even as Kibaou sputtered and pointed his finger accusingly at him.

'Why are you defending them! You must be one of them too!'

Keima simply tilted his head slightly to the side, his eyes keeping contact with his till he looked away to the player indicator that displayed his name.

'You're…. Keima? The information seller?'

He asked weakly before gnashing his teeth and telling the world that he refused to sell him the list of known Beta-players. Well, it was Argo's list actually but the point was that Argo agreed with him.

..

'I do not see any benefit from selling the identity of players to others who would no doubt use that information to harm other players.'

Keima replied easily, that was the truth but Kibaou was not letting this drop.

'Why are you defending them then! They're the ones who let so many people die!'

'As of today, the amount of deaths due to monsters is still dwarfed by the individuals who had taken their lives... your argument is not sound. The beta-players provided much input to the Field Guide to Aincrad, an information goldmine that no doubt saved many of our lives. They are also the players who showed us the way forward, guiding and showing many of us, undoubtedly perhaps unintentionally that it was possible to survive in Aincrad. Without those players, the entire population of 10000 might not even leave the town in fear of their own mortality.'

Keima's answer caused Kibaou to blanch, there was no doubt that he had used the Field Guide to Aincrad, it was up to it's 20th version now and would only get better with each release. The beta-testers were the front-liners, those that went in first and came back with experiences and knowledge on how to survive the game.

Of course that goldmine was bound to get used up, the beta-testers only reached up to level 10 after all. After level 10, anything was fair game.

But till they reached level 10, Keima would not let them lynch the players who had contributed the most so far, it would be totally unproductive.

'The fact that all of you, beta-players and new players alike are out on the field is a main contributing factor to how the number of suicides has dropped over the last week. All of us is in the same boat, if you insist on lynching the strongest players in the game because of your stubborn ego…'

Keima gave a disinterested snort as he finished, causing Kibaou to light up again in anger.

'This is not justice. You are simply jealous of their strength, nothing more, nothing less. In a situation where every single player counts, every life should not be measured, you are using your personal yardstick to judge others…. Pathetic.'

Shaking his head, Keima stepped back while Argo stepped up instead, her face serious as well.

'I'm not good with words like Keima over there, tl;dr and all that… but I agree with him. Betas are human too, and they're not invincible or saints or anything like that. They're you. And if you can say that you would be all self-sacrificial and help everyone off the bat, you're either crazy or distorted or a saint. Tell me if are though – I'm sure we can help you start a charity or something.''

..

Argo didn't have the usual chirpy or mischievous smile that she usually has on her face. Instead she was scowling and looking quite upset at the two of them. She was upset on two counts – the first was exactly what Keima said.

It wasn't right to start going after the Beta-players, while they were in the wrong for abusing their knowledge of the game at the start. They were also human. All of them were human with their own vested self-interest in themselves.

Heck, Argo was milking that same self-interest to profit from it.

Nothing like good old human greed and selfishness to profit from, eh?

The second point was how Keima couldn't be a little more tactful with his delivery, like really. He could be much better at that if he just tried, but that was something that no one, not even Argo could get him to do if he didn't want to do it in the first place.

On the flip side of the coin however, there was nothing that one could make him stop doing something he wanted to do. This was something Keima decided needed to be said, and he said it. She had to be the one to blunt the edge of Keima's words and that really blows.

At least she agreed with him though, so it's all good in the end.

The two's influence and weight, especially amongst the player merchants as well as them supplying a bulk of the information that everyone uses means that their words carries weight.

Enough wait to win over the tide of resentment that Kibaou was riding on up till now and he spluttered before growing and jumping off the

'Now, now, all of us are entitled to their own opinion…'

As the silence started to drag a little longer, Diabel tried to steer the gathering back to it's original topic by clapping his hands together to gather the crowd's attention.

'Everyone, I'm Diabel, a Knight.'

Diabel gave a flourish and polished bow to everyone, causing the crowd to laugh and start applauding his audacity before starting to deliver the details that was requested from the two of them. It seemed that the crisis, if there was one, was adverted by Keima and Argo's words. The last thing all of them needed was a witch hunt, that would not be productive at all.

What was being discussed was going to be the battle plan to clear the first floor after all!

* * *

..

'So, how was it. Did you think that they would clear the floor?'

Argo asked quietly when the players separated to form their own individual parties that they were going to be in for tomorrow's raid on the boss.

After working with him for a month, Argo knew that when it came to analysis – Keima was undoubtedly the best that she had ever seen. She was the best in gathering information though, even surpassing Keima's own feat of being able to document and list down all the quests available on the first floor.

Even if she was a beta-tester, and she really enjoyed her time in SAO, the truth was that she wasn't a very good player in SAO. She had the knowledge, she just couldn't practise what she knew out on the field.

However Keima could, he just didn't like to do so. He'd much prefer to be in the little house they call their office to analyse and gather feedback on the mechanics of SAO than applying that on the field.

That said, from all of his digging from players and NPC alike, he had pieced together the mythology of the setting of Aincrad, the many rumours and stories that were told and correlated them with all the information that the betas knew of the first ten floors.

He had deconstructed the mechanics and had started hashing out ideal 'builds' for players within SAO. That was partly why Keima had funded all the crafting and forging of equipment by the player merchants – he was trying to deconstruct the armour and weapon mechanic of SAO as well.

Argo knew that with enough time, he would live up to the title of the Capturing God and even more. He was living up to his promise that day he returned to her side, asking for her help.

How has Argo helped him? She wasn't sure, but she'll be there to kick his ass to gear till the end of the game.

'They would. The equipment that I have asked Agil and Lisbeth to bring down have all been sold out to them. They would be equipped with the best gear of this floor. Their average levels are above the recommended level of the floor boss. All of them are experienced players and together with the numerical advantage that they have, they would clear the floor. However their battle plan needs work, from the statements and analysis of the field boss, Ilfang, they are being too reliant on the information that we have. It is custom tailored to defeat Ilfang with the least minimal chance of failure.'

Keima pushed a strand of his hair backwards before he scoffed.

'To achieve victory without a single loss of life. With an objective like that, I cannot in good conscious offer my views on how it could be improved.'

'Oh… you do have tact after all…'

Argo deadpanned but Keima didn't even respond to it, instead he turned to look at Lisbeth and Agil instead, the two of them waiting patiently for the two of them while trying to not get dragged into the conversation. They knew better than to give Keima the chance to start on one of his lecture after all. The boy was a genius, he knew what he was doing, but hearing his lectures would suck the energy out of the two of them for sure.

Especially Lisbeth, most of the time she could not follow Keima's argument but for Agil's part, he would spend most of the time wondering where did that confidence came from.

'Are the two of you going to join them in the raid tomorrow?'

'I'll like that, but I'll pass this time. We'll need to restock after those guys cleared us up. They might need more for tomorrow, so it's good business.'

Agil grinned as Lisbeth agreed.

'We'll need a new batch of monster drops to forge what's needed though… and with the majority of the players out on the fields here today it might be hard.'

'I'll handle that, don't worry. They'll be delivered to you later on. On the tab this time too, Keima?'

Argo sniffed unhappily at being asked to pay to buy the drops from other players for the merchants but the two blacksmith shook their head.

'We'll buy them from the open market, Argo… we're not going to mooch off the two of you. We shouldn't even do that in the first place. We have some pride in what we are doing you know.'

Agil scratched his head and looked unhappy even as Keima simply shrugged and said that it was their choice, and his choice was to give them an incentive to trust his judgement call this time.

'We believe you, Keima. Is that so hard to believe? I know that you turned some of the guys off at the start but all of us are happy working with you now, right?'

It was true, Keima had pissed off about half of the player merchants when he had gathered them for his first ever major proposal to overhaul the way players interacted in SAO.

'Happy would be pushing it, but anyway, thankfully he got me on his side, right?'

Argo slapped his back painfully with a grin, one that Keima didn't return but he did nod in acknowledgement.

'Lucky me.''

* * *

..

Having worked together for the past month, heck, they had practically lived together for around the same time, the two's relationship had been better than at the start and to others, the two of them worked like clockwork together.  
Almost as if they had been working together for much longer. It was true, no doubt, but it was also true that Argo still had not forgiven Keima, and wouldn't do so for quite some time.

The reason the two of them appeared to be getting along well was the facade that both Keima and Argo were able to put on when dealing with business.

Not that the two of them minded – Keima was one who had always been better off in his own devices while Argo did things her own way and thus their functional working relationship and their dysfunctional personal relationship.

Was there one in the first place? There was, one built on the loss that the two of them had experienced.

..

The two information dealers left the group of players to head back to their own house in absolute silence, Keima replying the mails that he received with one eye on the interface and the other on the road. Argo was doing the same herself till the two of them reached the main entrance to the town.

Wordlessly the two of them separated, Keima heading off to speak to the governor of the beginning city and Argo to hit up some of her contacts by herself. The status quo between the two of them had not changed, it won't change that easily no matter what Keima did. But the truth was that Keima had done absolutely nothing to help the situation at all, he was making amends but had not reached out to Argo to try and repair the two's relationships.

Could one blame Argo for not trying on her own part? The answer was no, Argo had no obligation to repair their relationship as Keima was the one that had caused all of her pain, suffering and misplace of trust.

There was perhaps some atonement between the two of them, but forgiveness? That would not happen till Keima did something to try and mend the relationship between the two.

Whether that would happen remains to be seen.

* * *

..

'Why...'

Kibaou's voice echoed throughout the entire hall after Kirito defeated the boss. His eyes were heavy and his hands clenched tight as he voiced his frustration at seeing the leader Diabel, their leader, fell in battle while the other player, this Kirito guy, could have saved him.

'Why did you let Diabel die?!'

'Let... him die?'

Kirito replied uncertainly, his eyes heavy as well. He had seen the attack came too late, and he was right in a way. If he had realized earlier that the information given by the betas were inaccurate, Diabel might not have died. But then, he broke formation as well... so...

'Of course! You knew what technique the boss used! If you had told us about that up front, he wouldn't have died!'

The mutterings of the other players after Kibaou's accusation made Kirito feel uncomfortable and uneasy, he was right after all and Kirito was loathe to defend himself, anything said by him just wasn't going to stand well with all of them.

'He must be a beta-tester! That's how he knew all the boss's attack patterns! He knew, but he didn't tell us!'

Another player declared to the crowd and Kirito's heart sank when the others agreed with him. His heart felt heavy, the pressure of all those accusing looks made him feel even unhappier and upset and angry.

'That's... enough.'

However a quiet voice spoke up instead, one of the female players beside Asuna, the girl that he was partnered with, walked towards him suddenly. Brushing past Asuna, who suddenly started at what was happening, the girl continued calmly.

'It was not possible for him to save Diabel. Nor is it his fault that he was not able to. He broke formation after all.'

The girl, one with short blue hair and with the player name [Fuse], stopped in front of Kirito and offered a hand to him to pull him up.

'What are you doing, Fuse? He's the one that killed Diabel! He must know more than we do, much more!'

Fuse was a player that was in Diabel's personal group, a person that he had selected to be by his side as she was a very skilled player who fought with a long sword. She was skillful and had supported Diabel's group very well till he had broken formation.

Similar to Meizun before her, the female player was also rumoured to be a beta-tester but somehow was not the target for the other player's ire even with her cold attitude. That was... very unfair, something that Kirito noted with a grimace.

'That skill, it was a [sword skill], was it not?'

Fuse asked quietly, seemingly ignoring everyone else as they mumbled among themselves. There were only two female players in this raid group, Fuse and Asuna and the two girls had just gathered around Kirito. Asuna was giving him a small smile for comfort and staying by his side while Fuse continued to stare at Kirito, waiting for his reply.

'No, it was a [katana] skill. Monsters at higher levels could use it...'

Kirito answered hesitantly while the other players started crying for other beta-testers to come out and to face the music.

'You have fought monsters at other levels?'

Fuse's eyes narrowed seemingly in excitement while Kirito answered in affirmative.

'How... far did you fought in the beta?'

Fuse's questions made him on edge and he wasn't the only one for other players who was listening to the conversation tensed as well.

'Very far... I made it further than any of the rest.'

Why did he say that? Kirito wondered and that seemed to satisfy Fuse for she gave him a small smile in satisfaction. Asuna tensed too as she asked him if he was fine even as the other players shouted that he was cheating.

'That's worse than a beta-tester! You're cheating! A cheater!'

'A cheater! Yeah, a beta-tester and a cheater! A Beater!'

At all the name callings, Kirito's heart sank again, his eyes narrowing and he was about to lash back when Fuse scoffed, turning to face the antagonizing crowd with a calm and proud look. Seeing her do that made Kirito pause and eve Asuna's mouth to drop a little as she drew her sword out in a threatening manner.

'The [katana] skills were listed in the Field Guide to Aincrad, it is knowledge that was given to every one of us if we studied it. Our knowledge regarding Illfang the Kobold Lord was inaccurate from the beta-testers and it is our fault for not recognizing it. Why, is knowing the skill that Illfang used, and being strong enough to clear more levels than any other players cheating?'

Fuse asked patiently and no one replied for a while till Kirito spoke up.

'Because I know much more than any information trader and experienced much more... that is why I'm a cheater... or a beater. I guess I am a beater in that sense.'

Kirito scratched his head while smiling awkwardly and he only stopped when Asuna grabbed his hand and told him to stop it.

'What are you doing, Kirito? You're just going to get them madder!'

Asuna's gesture didn't help to lower the tension that much but Fuse's words did change the mood.

'Kirito is strong because of what he experienced by himself, it is not cheating. We should be cheating since we relied too much on the information that the two information traders gave us and had not experienced it by ourselves.'

'… I guess I'm different from the other beta-testers, ahaha...'

Kirito laughed awkwardly at the stunned crowd, seemingly relieved as well as crazy by telling all of them that. They were ready to lynch him for what he was saying but the two girls didn't seem to mind. Fuse even seemed prouder at hearing him say that.

'W-What do you mean! Why didn't you hel-'

'Tell the others what I know? Seeing how beta-testers are treated, I'm surprised Argo and Keima were willing to say so much... Argo was in the beta, you know?'

Kirito replied even as he equipped the cloak of midnight that shimmered into existence around him.

'The _Rat_ gave us the information we needed to survive! Even if she's in the beta, she helped all of us! You didn't! None of the beta-testers did!'

'The beta-testers were the one that provided a lot of the information on the skills and builds...'

Fuse replied promptly as she followed behind Kirito, the black-haired boy giving her a surprised look that she ignored. Besides her, Asuna was also tagging along, looking both perturbed but determined.

'Without their input, a large majority of the Field Guide would not be published.'

'And why do you know that? Are you a beta-tester too?'

'No, it was written at the first page of the Field Guide.'

Fuse replied calmly even while Kirito pushed open the door to lead them to the second floor.

'You beater! I don't care what you say! You could have saved Diabel! You could!'

Kibaou cried out in anguish and Kirito would have replied if not for Asuna pulling him up the stairs, a determined look on her as she scowled at Kibaou and his flunkies.

The group of players had been left disillusioned, some about what had happened earlier and some with what Fuse had said about the beta-testers.

'Beater... huh...?'

Kirito asked awkwardly as the door closed, leaving him alone with the two female players.

* * *

**Author's Notes: After careful consideration, I agree with seeing Fuse here. I wonder if someone else ever wrote a FF about her though.**


	7. Phase 7

**Of Mouse and Man**

**Phase 7****— ****Developing**

..

**Original Title: ****The World Only God Knows / ****神のみぞ知るセカイ ****& **_**Sword Art Online**_(ソードアート・オンライン)

**Original Concept by: Tamiki Wakiki & Kawahara Reki**

**written by: wrathie**

**Author's Notes: A Crossover where Keima was not approached by the Weiss Capturing Squad and the Events of the Goddess Arc is non-existent.**

* * *

**Author's Notes: Thank you, ****_bowpurity_**** for the beta edit. Time-skip time!**

* * *

'Why.'

Asuna asked suddenly as the three of them appeared on the second floor, a floor similar to the first one in it's design but populated with different monsters. Kirito still seemed a little lost and was looking at the two girls awkwardly while wondering why the two stuck with him. Now that Asuna broke the silence, perhaps he would know why Fuse stuck with him at least.

'Why did you help Kirito? Do you know her, Kirito? Weren't you with Diabel anyway?'

She was suspicious of the way this girl had latched on to the boy that had helped her so much since the day before. Perhaps she was trying to hurt Kirito after all? She won't allow it!

W-Wait, why was she thinking in this manner? It's not like she... no, she didn't feel anything about Kirito, she was in her party and he was strong, that's why she didn't want to lose him. Yes, that's it.

'Kirito is a strong player. Perhaps the strongest, even stronger than Diabel. I want to be the best in SAO.'

Fuse answered matter-of-factly as her grip on the long sword got stronger.

'I won't settle for anything less. That's why, I will stay with you, Kirito. If I am with the strongest player, I will know who I need to surpass.'

Fuse's answer not only made Asuna blanch, but Kirito as well. The black-haired boy looked sheepish as he said that he wasn't the strongest. But Fuse wasn't having any of it, the straight-mouth player shaking her head and reminding him of the teamwork that the two of them showed earlier.

'The two of you are the strongest pair in the SAO. You will teach me to be as strong.'

Fuse was demanding it, not requesting it as she did not allow Kirito to move away as she leaned closer than ever to the poor boy.

Asuna wasn't having it however as she grabbed Kirito's other hand and pulled him away from the blue-haired girl.

'You don't need to agree, Kirito-kun.'

Kirito-kun? Where did that came from?

'Let's go, Kirito-kun. You said that you went further right? Where do we go first?'

Asuna tried to distract Kirito by smiling at him, Asuna had a very nice smile if she used it and Kirito was about to reply when Fuse grabbed Kirito's other hand as well.

'I will be accompanying the two of you.'

With a few swipes and press of her interface, Fuse left her party and demanded she be added into Kirito's party instead.

'W-Wha?'

'Invite me into your party, Kirito.'

* * *

'Do you know what is consistent with the ideal, Argo?'

Keima sprung the question to the Rat suddenly as they waited for the teleport portal between floors to be activated by the victorious players who had vanquished the first floor.

Argo had been informed of the good news and was waiting impatiently for all of them to activate the portal to allow them access to the second floor. She had filled Keima in on what had happened during the battle and although the loss of Diabel was painful, it certainly made Keima wince in disappointment at least, there were still takeaways from the battle that they had field.

Like how their guide was still flawed, their information from the beta-testers were not 100% accurate or dependable. That much was a given and well, listening to the neutral party re-tell the tale on how the group wanted to turn on the beta-testers made Argo wince in sympathy.

The two of them knew Kirito and although the boy did not contribute much to the Field Guide to Aincrad, he did help provide precious corrections from what he discovered and tried in the field itself.

The player named Fuse was also quite a well known player, one that was bittersweet for she was the second most famous female player beside Meizun. Fuse did most of her interactions with Keima though and Argo was not close to her, however she was well known to be as stubborn as a mule and obsessed with getting stronger.

But back to topic, the question was something surprising and Argo considered for a moment before answering with a small grin.

'There is a story, a crisis and a hero to save the day.'

'Accurate, a perfect answer.'

Keima did not seem too surprised that Argo was able to answer his question, that was to be expected from Argo who was Meizun's second in command after all. From their interactions together for the past month or so, she had shown herself to be a very talented individual in her field of information gathering and dissemination.

'We are in the ideal now, or perhaps it is more accurate to say that everyone has always been in their ideal. They would go through life with they themselves as both an observer in others or as a main character in their own story.'

Argo did not expect Keima to start talking about this out of the blue without a reason and she waited patiently for Keima to continue, this came from experience after all. The Rat was not disappointed as Keima nodded and continued.

'Since this is the ideal, and a game, even if it is an MMORPG that all of us are trapped in, all of us shares the same back story that all of us make a sum of. We are a sum of it's part, every one of our actions contribute to something, even if it is insignificant, even if it might never be seen. This is, our story in SAO.'

Argo was a little lost, but she allowed him to continue as he pushed a hand up the bridge of his nose. There was no need for glasses in SAO, but it seemed that it was particular quirk of Keima's. Even if she still did not forgive him fully, they still spoke and discussed each other's views on what was happening around SAO.

Keima was a visionary of sorts, one that could see far ahead while Argo was more grounded on the present, meaning the two was a good pair working together.

'Meizun taught me that, that we should not only be concerned about our own lives within SAO. The big picture, the full picture, the story of SAO that we all share is what matters. That is why I will help, I will use all of my power to influence and push all the players to the same goal. To give strength to those that needed it the most, to guide the lost sheep towards the Happy End.'

For some reason Argo winced and frowned at what Keima said but remained silent as she looked at Keima patiently.

Keima was Keima, the **Capturing God**, and if not for Argo being eccentric and a show-woman herself, not to mention having one month to finally forgive Keima, she would have walked off at the crap that he was spouting. But it came with the job of ensuring the Capturing God stayed on the right path that he was taking now. He was truly helping the people like what Meizun, her sister, thought that he could.

So she gritted her teeth and continued listening when she could just stop him right now.

'And… your point is?'

Or she could interrupt him right now to ask him to get to the point, that was good as well.

'There is always a Main Protagonist, and he would always be burdened with either power, responsibility, sense of justice or being as stubborn as a mule to achieve the impossible. That is the barest minimum that a candidate must possess.'

'Like I said… your… point is, Keima?'

'We still need to know who would shake this world to his core'

Keima answered with conviction in his voice and Argo rolled her eyes to say that no one was a mountain when the portal activated in front of them. The players that had been scattered around and waiting for the signal cheered while Argo and Keima stepped up towards it.

..

'Well, let's get going. Time to set up a new base and get my contacts out there.'

Argo shrugged as she pressed a hand against the portal, leaving Keima behind and appearing within the grounds of the second floor. Looking around the place with a critical eye, Argo blinked and grinned when she say who it was that had activated the portal.

'Well now, I didn't expect Mr. _Hero_ to be the one to activate the portal himself.'

Argo grinned at Kirito, an associate of hers that spanned back to the time when she was in the Beta. Kirito was the top beta-tester in the beta and he had both the skills and the looks to complement it. Wait, looks? That didn't came out right.

'And you look at you, popular with the ladies? Nyahaha~'

Argo giggled mischievously while looking at the two girls that were with him. The brunette, Asuna, was a player that Argo wasn't familiar with but the other, Fuse, she was. She was one of Meizun's friends and they had a duel once where Meizun had came out on top.

Thinking about her sister made her chest throb in pain and it worsened when Keima appeared beside her the next moment. Players were popping from the portal one by one, taking a good look around before running off. The five players however slowly made their way through the town, exchanging greetings as they did so.

'… Good afternoon.'

Keima greeted the four of them with a nod before his eyes started surveying the place around him. Teleport portals were available in all towns of each floor, but they must be activated first. They were no doubt in the first town of the second floor just outside of the door to the first floor boss dungeon.

'Argo, Keima.'

Fuse replied with a curt nod. The female player has always been a little distant but she did use their services quite liberally. Like Kirito, she was a very good player and took on all the quests that were listed in the Field Guide. She was also shameless in her pursuit for information that she needed, she wanted to be the strongest after all.

..

'I've heard what happened in the raid, sorry about your loss... Fuse, you were working with Diabel, am I correct?'

Keima inquired, no doubt confused at why she was with Kirito now. Unlike Fuse, Kirito primarily dealt with Argo, but the **Capturing God** liked having his nose into every pie if he could help it. It was in his nature, _information_ was power, and if he was to get the Happy End, he needed every scrap for it.

He'd even die for it... just like how Meizun had – no, he has to stop thinking about _that_.

'Yes, Diabel was a skilled individual. If he had not broke formation, he would have been alive today.'

'Uwah, harsh, Fuse-chan is really harsh...'

'I am merely being observant.'

'So I see. Your speech to the rest of the raid members left them very upset.'

Keima answered evenly and he noticed Kirito rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Asuna however started when she noticed something popped up on her interface and she looked at it suspiciously before dismissing it.

'I would rather you accept my friend request, Asuna.'

Keima replied immediately and that caused Argo to roll his eyes, Kirito to give a small snort of amusement and Fuse to tilt her head in confusion.

'B-But, I don't know you...'

Asuna replied meekly, seemingly cowed by the way Keima looked at her sternly.

'Yes, that is true. However I would still rather you accept my friend request.'

'Just do it, Asuna-chan. As a bonus, I'll let you add _me_ to your friend list.'

Argo winked while Kirito looked even more amused by it.

'Wait, w-why would...'

Kirito blinked before hitting his own palm and turning to Asuna.

'Let me introduce them to you, Asuna. This is Argo and Keima. The two of them are known as the Information Traders of Aincrad. You've read the 'Field Guide to Aincrad' that I loaned you? The two of them are the ones responsible for it.'

Asuna's mouth opened in a 'o' shape before smiling and bowing to the two of them.

'I'm Asuna, pleased to meet you. The 'Field Guide' is really informative, I'll finish it soon!'

Asuna's words made Keima frown as he studied Asuna closely, causing the brunette to blush and cling to Kirito tighter.

'You have not read the Field Guide at all? How, may I ask is that possible? I've put all my effort into advertising and distributing the 'Field Guide', did I miss a place?'

Keima bit his lip in frustration and it was Kirito who brought him out of his misery as he mentioned that Asuna had taken the last month pretty hard.

'She was training by herself for around 3-4 days out on the fields before she returned... it's complicated... really. At least she's reading it now, right?'

Keima frowned but let the matter drop, if there were still others who were not in the know, he'd have to step up the distribution efforts.

'Back to the topic, you should accept the two's friend request so you can contact them for any help, any at all. They're the ones who told me about the quest to get cream.'

Keima smirked when Asuna immediately accepted the friend request from the two of them without hesitation.

'It's included in the Field Guide under the quest sections, Asuna-chan.'

Argo chimed in to be helpful while Kirito just rolled his eyes.

Seeing that the matter was settled, there was some easy silence before Keima turned back to talk to Fuse.

'Going back to topic, I doubt that your previous group of associates would wish to party with you again. Would you require our services to find another party?'

Keima already knew her answer but just wanted to be sure and he was proven right when Fuse shook her head and said that she already has a party in mind.

'With Kii-bou right? Good choice. Even if he might look cute, he's still the top player of the beta.'

Now that everyone knew that Kirito was a beta-tester, there was no reason to hide the facts despite Kirito palming his own face in resignation.

'I thought that was supposed to be a secret, Argo?'

'Fuse here once paid me to tell her who was the strongest known player of SAO. I told her it was Diabel as he had the highest level, but now that he's dead, it falls to Kii-bou. And that reputation is really amazing too! He reached the tenth floor after all!'

'The... tenth floor?'

Fuse seemed floored but her eyes then hardened as she insisted Kirito add her to her group once again. Asuna was squawking in disbelief at the audacity of Fuse, who was pressing her body tightly against Kirito without a care, or perhaps she didn't really register that.

Keima for his part just looked a little odd but that was par for Keima, he was going to be odd somehow. Instead, Argo looked around the place again before giving smiling in nostalgia.

'It has been a while, isn't it? But why did it take so long for the three of you to reach here? I know your built, Kii-bou, you shouldn't take so long to reach here, and you know the route here anyway.'

'Ah... about that... we came here only after we finished some training.'

Kirito said sheepishly and it was accented by Asuna and Fuse nodding their headers in affirmative.

'That's really risky, Kii-bou. You know some of the players can't survive in the fields outside the first floor! And you took two rookies with you? What if the two of them died?'

Argo raged while Kirito smiled and shrugged sheepishly.

'The two of them are good, Argo, I wouldn't put them at risk.

'Obviously, Mr. Hero. Maaah... I don't care any more.'

Argo sighed before rubbing her head, and promptly added more fuel to the fire to Kirito's situation when she remarked that she really didn't mind sharing Kirito with them in the end.

'W-Whaa- Kirito-kun?'

'A-Argo! W-We're not like that! I swear!'

'Ohoho~ Why are you blaming it on the girl, Kii-bou! That's not the right thing to say!'

* * *

..

'I can see the ending. Those three are the ones…'

Keima declared suddenly to Argo after watching the other three leave to finish their business.

'The... ones? The heroes and heroines you mean?'

Argo frowned but the gave a sigh as she acknowledged the possibility.

'Kii-bou even got a nickname, a title! Well, _Beater_ isn't the best but... at least it is something.'

Argo smiled as Keima crossed his arms to give his approval as well.

'He is the strongest beta-player according to your notes, am I right? Besides… he was the only person who cleared the entire quest list in the first floor within three days. Three, days, that should not been possible.'

'What about the person who discovered all of them in the first place? What does that make you?'

'A God, nothing else.'

Keima deadpanned and Argo had to snort as he was serious with what he was saying and was not joking at all. What self-confidence!

'Kirito has always showed that he was on a different league, that he was stronger than the rest and now… the world has acknowledged him as one of them. That's not even considering how he has gotten the attention of two strong females.'

'Okay… So Kirito finally approached a girl, so, yay, and now he's a main character? Well… I always thought that Kirito is the best player besides Meizun…'

Keima winced visibly at that and Argo didn't feel sorry at all for reminding him of that.

'The boy will attract people to him unlike any one else even if he wishes to be alone… that is a defining quality of the hero. The protagonist, does he have that?'

Keima asked softly and Argo threw his hands up in the air in agreement to that.

'Point… I don't really mind if it's Kirito though… Really. He's... good enough, really.'

Argo grinned while Keima simply smiled and said he was looking forward to interacting with the two of them in the future.

'Till then, we should do our part by starting our exploration of this floor.'

* * *

**A Month Later**

..

'How's everything doing, Keima?'

Argo asked patiently as they had lunch together. The schedule that had developed on the first floor had been disrupted when the two of them had shifted operations to the fifth floor as the flow of information from the floors below them had gotten too much to handle even for the **Capturing God**.

Even if there were a couple of hundred of people still in the first floor, the rest of the players distributed from the other floors, he found it his obligation to at least help those players on that floor. There were a hundred floors with ten thousand people on it. Eventually people would abandon floors in it's totality and just keep moving on. His information network was spread thin, eventually he'll have to regroup his guild members and allies.

Hence his suggestion of leaving one of the players in charge of monitoring the situation there. There were ten thousand players in Aincrad, and not all of them wanted to fight in the front lines.  
It hadn't been too difficult to locate a suitable candidate from all of Argo's contacts, she was responsible for recruiting after all and after accessing their abilities and giving them instructions on what to do, Argo and Keima had established their information network even better than before.

They had even started a guild where the two of them were the joint guild leaders. They went by the name of [Nezumi], much to Keima's chagrin.

'Nothing has changed much from the floors below... no lives were lost today. However I must share my uneasiness at how there is no development so far.'

Keima answered softly while Argo raised an eyebrow in confusion. The two of them were by themselves, an uncommon occurrence since the guild had been established.

Despite delegating a lot of their roles to others, like the assignment of players to different parties, queries on quests and the continual research on the mechanics of Aincrad, the two of them were still swamped with work.

That was mostly due to the connections they had formed with the clearers out on the fields. Argo expected nothing less as they needed leaders to tackle the gradually growing stronger monsters if they wanted to keep up the pace of growth that all of them had.

The second and the third floor monsters were reasonably easy, even with the changes from the beta they hadn't needed the same full squad of members to take them down.

Keima hypothesized that certain floors would be harder to make the game more challenging. Illfang was labelled as a much bigger threat than the two floor bosses after accessing his strength and skills from the player's description of them.

There were currently three established group of players that the clearers had started to adhere to, the first and biggest group were the players that formed the smaller and long lasting parties with their friends or comrades they met in the fields.

They were players who played in pairs or in group of threes that formed bigger parties through Nezumi's help. They were also lower levelled than the other group of players as they couldn't grind in much stronger areas.

The second group of players were those that had formed long lasting parties with each other, it wasn't uncommon for groups that had worked well together to stick to the same party. They would have gotten more experience playing with each other and covered for each other. The second group was the group that Keima and Argo agreed would eventually grow to the last group, the guilds that had been formed on the fifth floor where they were all gathered in.

However there weren't many prominent clearer guilds so far, none that has really gathered enough players to really stand out even amongst the meetings to plan for the raid of each of the floor bosses.

The most famous guild by far was of course Nezumi, with a group of around a hundred individuals they weren't the biggest, but with their ties with the merchant guild consisting of a couple of hundred players, it was the most influential group so far.

The biggest guild by far was the Merchant Guild that was formed due to it's practicality. Practically all of the players that wished to craft items in SAO had joined the guild, and with their overwhelming numbers and Nezumi's knowledge of the 'affluence' mechanic with SAO, they basically controlled the economy of SAO.

The second largest group was the gathering group that went by the name – Atelier, a group that was similar to the Merchant guild only they specialize in the collection and trading of monster drops exclusively unlike the former which were focused on the selling and purchase of player-made items and all the items required to make them.

With the rate in which Atelier was growing, seeing how they had established a system of transporting drops from the field to the towns with their players, Argo and Keima were of the mind that the Merchant Guild might soon outsource their requirements to them. It was encouraged, he had been the one to assist Atelier with the coordination while Argo was the liaison between the two guilds.

Atelier was also loosely associated with Nezumi, the two guilds sharing information freely just like how they did with the Merchant Guild.

The economy of Aincrad was thriving, supporting the players that were out on the field for them. Support, was as important as the offence after all!

'Perhaps we are just doing too well? Having no abnormalities is a good thing, Keima.'

'… That is why I am worried...'

* * *

**Author's Notes: And that's a wrap for now.**


	8. Phase 8

**Of Mouse and Man**

**Phase 8**

..

**Original Title: ****The World Only God Knows / ****神のみぞ知るセカイ ****& **_**Sword Art Online**_(ソードアート・オンライン)

**Original Concept by: Tamiki Wakiki & Kawahara Reki**

**written by: wrathie**

**Author's Notes: A Crossover where Keima was not approached by the Weiss Capturing Squad and the Events of the Goddess Arc is non-existent.**

* * *

**Author's Notes: Thank you, ****_bowpurity_**** for the beta!**

* * *

**Aincrad 5th Floor**

'What do you mean by that, Keima. You guys don't even fight, so why do you get to tell us what to do? Screw that, we're going with our plan and that's that. You can tell us what to do _after_ you actually take part in a raid.'

The leader of one of the smaller clearer guilds, Kibaou, smirked haughtily at the **Capturing God**, Keima, as he sat together with Argo in the meeting that was organized to discuss how to take down the Boss of this particular level.

As with the other levels, information on the boss was collected, analysed and disseminated to all everyone who had a copy of the Field Guide to Aincrad.

After the first disastrous raid on the first boss floor, the members of Nezumi had re-organized themselves by sending scouts to test the abilities of the Floor bosses before the actual raid.

It was an unreasonable request for Keima or Argo to send others out in such a fashion without leading the way and they had done so in the second floor boss.

Like Argo, Keima's build had focused on speed and the two of them had hung around for a bit to see the attack patterns of the floor boss, mapped the area where it waited for them before retreating from battle to regroup.

The two hadn't even gotten hit a single time as they ran circles around them. One important thing that the two practised was the group slogan, 'When in doubt, retreat!'. Unlike conventional slogans that frowned on retreat, seeing that it was a morale killer and that it would entail that it would be almost impossible to reinforce discipline or confidence in their own troops.

Who would wish to lead a group of individuals that would run away and not cover each other's back when they were facing the enemy, no one would!

But the members of Nezumi was not fighters, they were scouts and they were much better off alive than dead as a dead man could not relay the information that they gathered.

It was one thing to be a hero or a warrior and to die in combat with honor, a sentiment that was probably shared by those who saw Diabel died on that raid, but it was a different thing when it was pride against death.

Pride always loses out to death, and if by retreating they can save themselves as well as to ensure a win the next time, why not?

There was always uncertainty in battle, nothing was certain after all and in SAO, that was the kicker. Once you fail, you died, but there was no escaping the battles against the floor boss.

However, Nezumi was not a clearer guild, they were the support factions to the clearers and with the alliance that Keima insisted and paid for, the alliance between the Merchant Guild, Atelier and their own guild meant that the clearers themselves had to acknowledge it.

'I will repeat this as many time as necessary, we are in a war, Kibaou and all of us have different roles to play in this conflict. We are all in the same boat after all. The clearer's roles in this war is to fight and win. None of us can dispute that, all of you are the best players we have for this role. Our role in this conflict however is to provide support to the front-line players, whether it is first-hand information on the pattern of attacks of the monsters, the equipment that all of you are wearing and using or the services that we provide out on the field. We are here to assist all the players to ensure that everyone knows what they are getting into. Do you, or do you not acknowledge our presence as well as our contributions to our overall cause?'

Keima's words made Kibaou frown as he tried to argue that his guild _didn't _need all of them, and they were certainly not pulling their actual weight on the situation.

'I see your point, Keima-san.'

It was the leader of another guild, this time a player with the name of Dylas, who spoke up.

'Our roles and your roles are different, that much I can understand and accept. Many of the players that are here have benefited directly and indirectly from Nezumi, the Merchant Guild and Atelier's hard work and effort. We acknowledge that, and we offer our sincere thank for the effort in coordinating and planning to achieve the level of efficiency that all of you have achieved.'

Dylas paused in his pompous tirade to get to his point.

'But I believe what Kibaou-san was questioning was why we are expected to follow the advise and lead of a player whose role, as you have explained earlier, was not in direct combat.'

Keima gave a small smile and nod in acknowledgement even as Kibaou nodded his head while agreeing with Dylas. At least this individual was not taking it as an insult like what Kibaou did.

Dylas had not formed a guild, but had participated in all of the raid with the same small group of players in his party since the second boss raid. Like Diabel he had dyed his long shaggy hair, only his was to a dull grey that made him look like a feral wolf. He was a skilled player and a very brave one. With his main weapons being fists, meaning he had to actually fight in close quarters, he had always been the first to request information on the attack pattern of monsters and etc.

Keima knew that he had always appreciate the help that Nezumi provided him and decided that he probably was still on their side. Fighting with fists was unorthodox as the activation of the its skills wasn't the same as other weapons like the axe or the hammer, it required the player to get in close but at the same time require them to have good footwork and a good eye to land their attacks. Compared to other weapons, fists skills had the huge advantage of not having a cool-down time compared to other weapons skills. However, the trade off was it required extreme mental focus, and a slip up would be catastrophic. Dylas was a skilled player and with the monster's attack pattern known to him, even partially, he would be able to handle himself with a group of them with relative ease.

He was also the one who leads the charge on the boss when the opening was there, he had good eye and good footwork as well.

..

'… Keima, you need to get out of the office more. I mean, it's cool and awesome that you are actually _out_ of the office and talking to people face to face, but you really need to you know, interact with others.'

Argo shook her head while garnering the attention of the leaders of the parties that had gathered together to discuss the raid plan for the floor boss.

'Guys, guys. We are _Nezumi_, we are the group that provide information that you want at a price. From the selling prices of the new latest bit of battle ware from all the fancy schmancy shops, we got a +10 Anneal blade up for auction by the way just to keep things interesting, to the attack patterns of the Kobold Leader Field Boss that I'm sure all of you fought before, we _engage _monsters too. We just don't fight them long enough to be a clearer, why else would we able to publish all the monster attack patterns, their spawn areas and drops?'

Argo looked around for a moment to allow the news to sink in before she continued, ignoring Keima's comments on how they bought some of their information as well. They had a policy which allowed players to sell information to them, stuff like the rare drops of a monster, they exact recipe to make a new type of weapon and etc. It's a win-win situation for all.

'And it was Keima who was leading the scouting party to test out the boss's attacks in the first place. Although we didn't hit it much, we couldn't possibly kill it, we faced the monster first-hand and we _know_ what we are doing by giving you advice on what to expect in the battle with it.'

'Information is the most important thing in this war that we are engaging, and no matter what, the scouts are the first to encounter the enemy and the face to engage. We might not finish them, but that is not our role... our role, is to ensure that all of you have the best possible chance of success and victory. Your victory, is our victory as we are in same boat. Why would we wish to sabotage an operation that benefit all of us?'

Keima finished patiently and that seemed to settle the group of displeased players as Dylas gave the two of them a quick wink before taking charge again.

'Let's go through Keima-san's plan again before we debate this again . Would you please, Keima-san?'

..

'To be honest, it'll be great if all the clearer guilds just joined up together like what you made the Merchant Guild do, Keima-san. Having a centralized power would make our meetings that much faster.'

The meeting was over and only a few group of players were around, one of them was Dylas and his small group of players. The others was Klein of Fuurinkanzen and Kirito with Asuna and Fuse.

The last group was currently being teased by Argo endlessly as the three of them had not separated ever since Fuse had managed to break through to Kirito and force him to accept her into his party.

The three of them fought like a well-oiled machine and their teamwork was unmatched, and their average DPS was on par with bigger groups like Dylas and Klein's own parties even with three players.

Klein of Fuurinkanzen was a veteran of other MMORPGs and he picked up SAO quite readily after seeking assistance with Nezumi on the build of it's current party members. They had a good mix of players that complemented their strength and covered their weaknesses. It took sometime for them to get to the level and skills necessary to work as cohesive unit due to the mechanics of SAO, but they were now considered experienced in their own right in clearing bosses after joining the raid group in the third boss raid to the current one.

Of course Kirito's group were active in all the raids, the title of 'beater' should have made it hard for him to party with others but with the two girls with him, he didn't need any one else. That caused some friction when they volunteered, or Fuse volunteered to lead the raid in engaging the boss by themselves. They were still sore that Kirito got the last attack bonus after all.

It really didn't helped that the two female players adamantly defended Kirito from others who tried to bad mouth him. Kirito was quickly labelled to being a playboy, something which Argo found absolutely hilarious.

Kirito himself didn't know of that reputation until Keima pointedly told it to him in his face, causing the poor boy to blush red together with Asuna. Fuse on the other hand did not even blink and just replied that relationships was something she didn't find time for.

However Nezumi did their party good by starting a newsletter that detailed how the raid on the first floor went and went all out in what went down on that raid. This helped remove most of the heat off Kirito and the beta-testers after a few days.

Called the Aincrad Times, the newsletter was available for 5 Gold each at all Merchant shops and was released every week to keep players updated on the latest happening.

Eventually Argo wanted their newsletter to include sections which resembled a newspaper that they had in the outside world, complete with scandalous gossip and articles on the famous individuals of Aincrad.

Seeing that there wasn't any form of entertainment in Aincrad, something which irked Argo quite a bit, the clearers themselves tended to be mini-celebrities.

At least, that's what Argo hoped would happen, it would be too boring if their lives in Aincrad, no matter the length, was filled only with battles. They had to have some semblance of down-time and a normal life. Even if life in Aincrad really wasn't normal.

It also really wasn't that difficult for Argo to recruit interested members who would love to put together the newsletter to join the guild and their current members who were putting the Field Guide together. There were roughly ten thousand players stuck within SAO after all and they were all located in many different floors right now. Eventually the number of floors and distribution of players would make it difficult to monitor all the activities of the guild by the two of them and they were being prudent by teaching, selecting and delegating the different departments of their guild's functions to trustworthy players within the guild.

..

Recruitment however was a little harder in other roles like for the scouts, whose tasks involved them putting themselves in danger by exploring uncharted areas and unknown monsters with different skills and attack patterns. The clearers weren't mostly made up of beta-testers, something which didn't surprise the two leaders of Nezumi that much, considering the way Kibaou had tried to publicly lynch them.

Instead the beta-testers made up the majority of the scouts within Nezumi itself. Keima and Argo frequently defended the beta-testers and seeing that they had played SAO before, they knew what they were doing, where they were doing and as a bonus – wanted to help everyone more than others.

Keima and Argo would never admit it, but Kibaou's little stunt there had helped their recruitment by guilt-tripping the beta-testers to assist them, it really helped that they had defended the betas themselves too.

The other group of players within the scouts were the players who wished to explore Aincrad proper. They had similar thoughts to Keima at the start, players who wished to explore what Aincrad had to offer and they were sent mostly to the towns to interact and to discover the mysteries of Aincrad. These players provided the bulk of intelligence on what goes on within the town, the 'affluence' mechanics and different systems that were implemented within Aincrad. For example only players who had unlocked the 'cooking' skill were able to purchase cooking utensils from the general stores after fulfilling quests which required players to submit food which they cooked themselves to NPCs. The cooking utensils unlocked new recipes that players were unable to use with their hands.

The cooking utensils also enabled players to raise their cooking skills much quicker and were exchangeable, many players who were willing to invest to increase their personal comfort were more than happy to buy the utensils at a slightly marked up price than from the NPC.

Sales from cooking utensils were not the main bulk of what were transacted between players and Nezumi, more often than not it was the 'broker' fee from general enquiries for dungeon crawling, party make up and etc that made up the bulk of sales.

But back to topic - the scouts did make up the bulk of the players who were in Nezumi, with the rest taking on roles to disseminate and gather information that was gathered by Nezumi. Heading the effort to analyse and make sense of the information was Keima, with Argo taking on the key important role of disseminating the information as well as handling their relations with the other guilds.

'Nah, that'll be too much work. It's been only two months and we're getting swamped due to how much work we have to do every day.'

Argo's roles within Nezumi were doubly important as relations between players were always going to be difficult and sensitive to boot. Ironically, Argo _wasn't _exactly the most sensitive of people and she was a horrible gossip after all.

But she was still the lesser of two evils between the two leaders, and she had more charm and charisma than Keima. The **Capturing God** was a magician with words, but wasn't the most approachable person, hence Argo being in that hot seat for customer relations.

Despite the difficulty and to the contrary, Argo was good at her job. She was even _proud _of her accomplishments and hence her annoyance and reluctance in Keima's insistence on sitting in during the clearer's meeting and his earlier speech to all of the clearers. He didn't have any bad intent, but the delivery of his concerns _could_ use some work. Their guild had never publicly made a move on anything within Aincrad, they were always in the background, supporting and assisting the players without a peep or much protest.

Argo was confident in saying that thanks to their efforts, hope was given to the players stuck within SAO as there were zero suicides and most, if not all of the players were playing a part besides the younger children which had all gathered at the orphanage at the first floor. The five floors of Aincrad were always buzzing with activity and there was none of the same hopelessness that had been building up after the fact that they were stuck in SAO struck home.

It helped that the three supporting guilds were encouraging everyone to do _something_ rather than mope around waiting for help. One might argue that it was counter-intuitive to encourage players to do things besides fighting to get stronger to clear the game, but Keima had counter-argued that not _everyone_ could fight the monsters. They were mostly civilians who were brought on the front of war and should be treated as such.

Fighting monsters took priority but shouldn't be mandatory or the death of more players would be guaranteed, especially when _people_ who _aren't _supposed to fight in the first place be dragged into the conflict.

The only _Happy End_ that Keima would wish to see, no, what Meizun wanted to see would be one where there were no deaths. That however was impossible, people already died, not due to the game and due to Kayaba. But that did not mean it was an _ideal_ that was not worthy of trying to achieve. Hence – Keima did it the only way he knew how, by guiding everyone through the most conservative way. One might argue, the most inefficient way but they were playing with people's lives here.

..

More likely than not the clearers had become accustomed to the support that the three support guilds were providing them and had started taking them for granted. As with all habits, they were hard to break but relatively easy to get used to. Everyone was in some way or another indebted clearers, something which no one was able to ignore but at the same time, no one was indebted to them as all of them shared the same goals.

It was a something that was easy to say, but difficult to understand or accept – especially when the clearers and the support weren't equal in the things that they placed on the line.

The clearers placed their _lives_ on the line while the support crew did not, well, some did but in the end the scales of exchange were not exactly equal. Keima didn't believe that anyone truly analysed or thought about the situation as deeply as he did up till now, even if they did however Keima did not care. Life itself wasn't fair. There were those that were good at one thing and bad at another. If the clearers truly wished to complain, or compare or to use their 'advantages' against other players, the same humans in the same boat - Keima will not hesitate to bring out the big guns on his side.

It was also true and concerning that the clearers were getting complacent and spoiled after having successful raids with no deaths after the first raid. It was partly due to the more conservative way that the players had planned on taking the boss as well as the more accurate information that they had been able to piece together with the beta's knowledge of monsters on higher floors.

It had given them some base to work with to share in the meetings, and that helped them to work out a plausible pattern for them to plan the raid party and how they were supposed to advance and to fight against the gathered clearers.

..

'Your work is important, all of your members are. I think Keima-san has shown that today.'

Dylas gave Keima a bow which he did not return, he was too busy replying and relaying orders through his interface right now. Dylas simply shook his head and simply gave a lopsided grin while turning to Klein, the red-haired swordsman grinning back while his guild mates waited patiently at the background.

'So how was your first meeting as part of the planning group? I understand that you and your guild has been participating in the front lines for quite a while, but this is your first time being asked to participate in the planning of the raid, right?'

'You got that right in one, Dylas-san. We're glad to be on board, it's one thing to follow orders and another to be part of the group which gives them out you know? I gotta say one thing though...'

Klein took deep breath before scowling and pointing at Kirito's party.

'HOW THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT MAN! YOU BETRAYED US!'

Klein's complaints were directed at how out of all the clearer groups, only Kirito had good active female members within it. The other guilds, although no slouch in the size department were lacking in the quality department. If one asked Keima, he would simply retort that they were babying the female players while Argo would argue that there just weren't anyone who could match up to Fuse, or Meizun.

Argo pointedly did _not _mention that in front of Keima, she could be mean at times, but she wasn't _that_ mean.

'Klein? What's wrong?'

Kirito had not been listening to his friend and that response caused Klein to drop to one knee in frustration. His guild mates just sighed as one and headed over to try and cheer him up while Dylas and the few guild members he had with him just chuckled.

'Fuse-san and Asuna-san works very well with Kirito-san, the three of them, as small as their 'guild' can be, is a force to be reckoned with.'

Kirito was listening this time and he scratched his ears in embarrassment. Fuse gave a small scoff as if saying that was to be expected while Asuna blushed, unsure what to reply on being complimented in that way.

They were being complimented right?

'Our offer still stands, Keima-san, Argo-san. The two of you with your influences and contacts would do well as the advisor for the clearer groups as well. I'm sure that is the best way forward, we are in a war, like you've said before. Using all our resources in the best way is the best way to end our time in SAO.'

Dylas wanted Nezumi to oversee all the players and to coordinate the efforts to clear SAO as fast as possible, an elected party that could and would have power to ask and order players to do what was necessary. Like a government of sorts, but Keima had declined almost immediately.

Argo wasn't too comfortable with that suggestion as well, partly because it was a huge responsibility, secondly because they were playing with people's lives like mentioned before and she wasn't fully confident in her own abilities.

Keima on the other hand simply replied that he was a stern believer in the rights of people – what players do should always be done willingly and not coerced or forced or suggested by others.

Argo wanted to retort that he was just hiding behind the shield of 'free will' when and if he screwed up one day. However Keima hadn't done so so far and hence her point was moot, so far.

'I stand by my words... and I shall only guide, never shall I take control...'

Keima answered softly and stiffly before nodding to Argo, signalling that they should be leaving. Before he did however, he called out to Klein.

'Yeah?'

'About your recruitment request to add a female member to your guild...'

Argo rolled her eyes but then grinned when Keima paused, seemingly milking the situation while Klein just grimaced, hoping for the best. So she did rub off Keima, that was a good sign! Having a sense of humor, no matter how twisted, was a _great_ sign actually.

'We found one. She's waiting for us at our guild house. Are you coming?'

'W-Wait, what? Really? WHOO HOO! C'MON GUYS!'

Argo paused for quite a while before she chuckled and waved her goodbyes to Kirito and Dylas's groups, he never failed to amaze her every day.

* * *

**Author's Notes: Villianization of Kibaou (is that a word?) and more of Aoba being a /clearer/ and not a /strategist/. Remember that guys!**


	9. Phase 9

**Of Mouse and Man**

**Phase 9****— Meetings**

..

**Original Title: ****The World Only God Knows / ****神のみぞ知るセカ****イ ****& **_**Sword Art Online**_(ソードアート・オンライン)

**Original Concept by: Tamiki Wakiki & Kawahara Reki**

**written by: wrathie**

**Author's Notes: A Crossover where Keima was not approached by the Weiss Capturing Squad and the Events of the Goddess Arc is non-existent.**

* * *

**Author's Notes: Thank you, _bowpurity_ for the beta!**

* * *

**A few months later**

**Aincrad Level 23**

* * *

'Thanks a bunch, Keima-kun. We'll be heading out then. Please, she'll be in your care then!'

The female player with the name Ikumi smiled at the other figure present before giving Keima a big grin while walking out of the main lobby with the members of Fuurinkanzen in tow. The raven haired female player had answered the call to join the above mentioned guild when they were out recruiting members who used hammers. That was the only weapon type that was missing from their guild and it would create a good base for them to recruit again for training purposes.

Of course Klein's own personal request to narrow the candidates to be girls was only muttered in private, in a sense Klein really lucked out as Ikumi was considered a rookie when she had first joined Fuurinkazen but the other members were more than willing to help the very friendly and hardworking girl get better.

It was rare for female players to be in the front lines or to actively be part of the clearers, but those that do were the cream of the crop. Like Fuse before her, Ikumi had been one of the unrefined gems that after a bit of hard work had became very good in fighting within SAO. Perhaps the only way women could get recognized within SAO was to be overwhelmingly strong? At least Argo bucked the trend as she had stayed the same way she was. Then again, Lisbeth too was another prominent hammer user who had kept her levels close enough to the front lines that she would take part in field raids from time to time.

Her primary weapon was the use of hammers, which delivered heavy crushing and blunt blows with each swing. They had a different style from swords or spears, relying more on straight overwhelming power in each of their blows.

It was also doubly amusing when Ikumi was a very petite girl despite her boundless energy. She had a healthy interest in sports and together with her natural tomboyish behavior, it made her a good fit for Fuurinkanzen in general.

..

Nezumi's job will never be quite done, and in this instance Keima found himself looking at the twin sister of Ikumi – Asami, the other figure that Ikumi had brought with her today.

The entire guild was heading out for a dungeon raid that might take a couple of days to finish and she had asked for Nezumi's help in taking care of her sister during the period.

It was a ridiculous request that Keima only accepted because Argo had told him to accept the request sternly, Argo had a soft spot for the twins that he was aware of, just not sure _why._

The identical twins, Ikumi and Asami had never played MMORPGs before and they had gotten stuck in SAO along with the rest of the players. The more energetic but ironically the younger of the pair had been more than eager to try out the battle mechanics within SAO but had not done so before due to her more timid and reserved sister until the two of them had joined Fuurinkanzen.

It was one of the conditions would be that they would continue to look after her sister for her if she joined their guild.

The older twin, Asami had suffered terribly due to the ordeal and hardly left the room that the two of them had rented until a week after they were trapped within SAO. One of the conditions Ikumi made when they joined Fuurinkanzen would be that they would continue to look after her sister for her.

The changes within SAO had encouraged Ikumi to start heading out to fight the monsters and while Asami hadn't been as brave, she had started to at least come out of the shell and room that she had trapped herself and spent her time either taking care of the room or heading out to walk around the town a little - a great start from her previous actions.

At least until other players saw her and tried to ask her out, flirting lightly with her and later outright trying to forcefully pull her away till some members of Nezumi had stepped in and brought her back to Ikumi.

Asami was still ignorant and unfamiliar with most of the mechanics of SAO despite having the field guide there to help her.

Keima was right to say that if people did not wish to learn or adapt to SAO, there was nothing he could to get them started.

After a particularly traumatic situation, Asami had retreated to her shell again, leaving Ikumi stuck between a rock and a hard place until she joined Fuurinkanzen.

It was just not in her nature to sit back and let others do her work for her, she had always been a hands-on person and she wanted to go out to contribute to the cause. Her sister was also not a burden to her. They were family but it was very difficult for her to contribute and be there for her sister at the same time.

Hence her request to Nezumi was two-fold, one was to actually help her locate a guild that she could join permanently to raise her skills and secondly, the guild had to be friendly enough to accept her shy sister within their rank as well.

It didn't take too much for Keima to decide that Fuurinkanzen was the best guild for them. He had briefly considered Kirito's group, but since they weren't an actual guild, he had decided that it was best they didn't. As kind as a girl Asuna was and as good as it would be to have Asami be with a group of girls, Kirito's group kept to themselves. Besides, Kirito and Fuse kept up a very tough training schedule between the three of them.

Keima had met all the members of Fuurinkanzen and they were a group of good individuals. Their leader's obsession with flirting with every female he met aside, they were trustworthy individuals who were as friendly as one could be in a world of strangers within Aincrad.

It was really a no brainer and it had turned out exactly like what he had predicted when the twins joined Fuurinkanzen. Ikumi had gotten her cake and was able to eat it too as she had been able to hit it off well with her guild members and to grow both in level and in skills.

Asami on the other hand was more reserved, apparently she still had problems with strangers of the opposite sex but had warmed up after seeing the goofy and cheerful way the members of Fuurinkanzen went about their lives in Aincrad. They took good care of her and was very protective to boot, causing Ikumi to lament once that Asami had gotten a ton load of bigger brothers but she _still_ had to keep all of them in line.

According to Ikumi, her timid sister had gotten an interest in housekeeping and cooking while the others were out in the field. They would normally leave a member of the guild behind to keep an eye and to accompany Asami but in this particular dungeon raid, they needed all the members to join as there were still areas left to be mapped and one couldn't be too careful with SAO.

..

'Why don't you take a seat over there, Asami? You could read some of the books and newsletters that we have over there.'

Argo broke the silence with a role of her eyes and she led the timid girl to the couch instead of just sitting in front of an empthy desk. Leaving her there, Argo dropped a pile of reading materials on the small table in front of her. It was silly for them to take _babysitting_ duties for a girl that was about their age but they had accepted this request and Argo was going to make Keima at least try to at least help Asami out.

It had been a busy few months, they were now on the 23rd floor and they hadn't lost a single person in their boss raids so far. The **Capturing God** and his abilities had been stretched to the max with the discovery of even more unknown skills like the [katana] and the [martial arts] skills that had to be unlocked or learnt from NPCs. If they weren't stretched as thin as they were in trying to coordinate efforts with the clearers and the other two support guilds, Keima would wish to do another sweep of the other floors up till now to see if they had missed out any quests, or if there were any new quests that were unlocked due to their progress. That said, the number of clearers had increased, but the ration of support to clearers were still heavily skewed to the support side.

It did not help that Atelier was starting to rival the Merchant Guild as many players started taking interest in other crafts like making casual clothes instead of making better armour for the players. There were also player shops that made hair dyes, customized potions and even _restaurants_! Not that Keima minded, SAO was the ideal and Aincrad allowed players to do _anything_. The system was evolving too, the affluence system had been tweaked greatly to keep the NPC shops competitive with the player shops.

The latest recruitment drive had increased their numbers by a significant amount, but most of the players were only suited to be messengers to contact other members of Nezumi on new happenings and not the scouts that they desperately need to map the areas in Aincrad. Perhaps with some training... they could, but it took courage and experience to be a scout as well.

It was an understatement to say that Aincrad was huge, so it was difficult to keep up the frantic and fast pace in which Nezumi could distribute and analyse information through the large guild to the other players of Aincrad. They got the job done, but discoveries were taking longer, and Keima knew that they were limitations. Perhaps they needed to regroup Nezumi and to stop himself from micro-managing?

If the **Capturing God** relinquished some of his roles to analyse the situation full-time, the pace of discovery might pick up again. But it was also the truth to say that new information and updates were popping up hourly, and that was the fact of the situation – there were just too much stuff going on all over Aincrad.

Perhaps it was time to start siphoning and deciding to prioritize the information that was being received? Argo certainly felt that way but she also knew that Keima would never accept it. He wanted to see the _entire_ picture or he might miss something. At least that's his reasoning was when Argo raised that to him.

In a sense that made sense, the bigger the organisation and the bigger the situation – the more things were lost within transit. The last thing Keima wanted was to miss an important but yet small piece that could change the entire context of the situation.

'And you, Keima, you are going to help Asami-chan. Spend some time with her for pete's sake, you know the girl has a crush on you, right? She's never been uncomfortable around you at all, not like some of the other guys... Poor Arthur...'

Argo whispered to him while Keima simply didn't react much to what was going on besides raising an eyebrow at her. A crush, on him? He barely knew anything about the female player named Asami, and he was pretty sure the same goes for her as they had barely spoken to each other so far up till now. Even if he was the go-between for her sister and Fuurinkanzen, that was just an exchange that had happened a few months back.

Unfortunately, Keima was genre-savvy enough to also know that what Argo saying was true. The raven-haired twin had somewhat of a crush on him even though it didn't really make sense to him why that was so. He should probably find out now and he cleared his throat, before sending a mail to Argo while in the midst of sending instructions.

The _Rat_ didn't even blink when the message popped up on her interface and she quickly excused herself, which was odd. Keima would have thought that she'll tease him a little for this. Then again, she was the one who had forced him to accept their request. It was a personal one directed to Keima and Argo and normally, no one would even dare to make a personal request. Logically, Keima could have asked one of his other guild members to look after Asami. They had several other leaders within Nezumi, Arthur in charge of accounts for example was a good choice or perhaps even Micah who was head of the scouting division. Maybe Takami of the Aincrad Times? Why should it be the two leaders who had to look after a single female player. Besides, even Argo considered those leaders as friends, though it was something Keima did not agree with.

They were acquaintances, allies and not friends. Friends would mean that they cared for each other and wanted to be part of each other's lives. Not so for Keima – he did not believe that they wished him to be a part of their lives so easily.

He was their commander, at least for the support guilds, and not a _friend. H_e shouldn't be one. Really.

..

'Asami.'

Keima spoke softly to the timid girl as she looked up to stare at him. It was an unnerving stare for she did not blink much as she tried to put all her attention on him before she smiled.

'Yes, Keima-san? I'm... I'm grateful for you in letting me stay with you...'

Asami admitted while blushing, she knew that it was childish of her but she just jumped at the chance to spend some time with Keima.

'It's not a bother at all.'

Keima's face did not betray the fact that it _was_ a bother, it really was but he was the **Capturing God**, a master at controlling his emotions and delivering the right lines, especially in the ideal.

'I'm glad... I don't wish to be a bother, and I know it's incredibly childish of me to wish to stay with someone else... I'm not a child after all, but...'

Keima waited patiently for Asami, the raven-haired girl grimacing before admitting that she didn't have any friends in Aincrad.

'I've always relied on Ikumi-chan and everyone in Fuurinkanzen, even Klein-san... he's funny and nice but... without them, I just... can't stand it. I... don't wish to be alone.'

Asami continued with a blush, unsure why she was blabbering all this to the person she _might_ have a crush on but Keima did not comment, nor did he press any judgement to her besides giving her a small nod and sitting down beside her on the couch.

'It's odd, isn't it? I... I think... Keima-san knows... that I …'

Asami wasn't able to continue, she simply looked down and wondered what she should say next that would not embarrass herself further.

'You're not suitable to be in Aincrad... You shouldn't be here.'

Keima spoke suddenly, softly too as Asami's head jerked up in surprise. She didn't expect him to say anything at all, much less comment on the truth. Hearing that from him made something in her hurt, and she knew it must be her heart.

'Not everyone likes the _ideal_, nor can everyone accept it... You're one of the few that shouldn't be here at all, Asami. Why, did you play SAO in the first place?'

The two of them were newbies, having _never _played any MMORPGs before and although her sister Ikumi had adapted to it very easily, Asami hadn't. Keima was not going to mince his words, the timid girl in front of him _wasn't_ suited for this stressful environment. He should send her to the orphanage to take care of the other children – yeah, that was a good plan. Why didn't he think about this before? It would be a safe place with lots of things to do to help her not think about the future.

'I... I have a confession to make, Keima-san.'

Keima raised an eyebrow at Asami's reply. The younger woman had spent quite some time thinking about her answer till her reply and she had apparently mustered the courage at long last, for a confession? Argo had been right, but this wasn't the right time for a confession, at least, just yet.

'I am listening.'

'… I was the one to ask Ikumi-chan to ask you for help.'

That has nothing to do with his question, right?

'Oh...? And why is that? If I can ask of course...'

'I... I had hoped to see a person, Keima-san. He shared the same name as you.'

A person with the player name Keima? Was that it? He looked nothing like what he actually looked like in the _real_ due to him not using the mirror key item from before. The odds were slim that the two of them were the same person in the _real_ though, what was the luck of that happening?

'I, I persuaded Ikumi-chan to get SAO because I wanted to know more about the video-games that the person liked. I knew that he'll be playing SAO, everyone is and... I was hoping that I can get closer to him by playing SAO, so I can understand him... I-It's... stupid, right?'

'No, it isn't.'

Keima answered softly while Asami looked up in confusion. Was he just trying to make her feel better? Or did he really mean what he said? She... wasn't sure as Keima had a conflicting look on his face. The **Capturing God** could see the ending here, it was just too easy.

'You like that boy, don't you, Asami? If you don't mind, would you tell me his name?'

Asami froze this time, her cheeks flushing before she nodded her head while looking down.

'Y-Yes, I do... His name is Katsuragi Keima-kun, he's in my class... we're in classmates and we never talked with each other. ... It's silly... I don't even have the courage to speak to him yet, I... don't even think he even know who I am... A-Ah, what am I doing, I... I'm sorry for telling you all this!'

Asami flushed harder when she realized what she was doing, simply put she was telling the person that she _might_ have a crush on about her other crush. It was all so confusing really that she did not know _why_ she did that.

Keima-san was an incredible person after all and it was hard not to look up to him after all that he has done for all of them. He looked very handsome too and Asami liked the way he handled all the people that came to see him or tried to hold a conversation with him through PMs.

They barely knew each other, or at least Keima did not know her. Asami had tried her best to know as much as she could about him through her guild leader, Klein. It had started off as admiration but it had changed to something else when she first saw Keima-san in the person. His actions were familiar, a little too familiar to the other person she had a crush on and in the end, she couldn't help but feel something for him as well. Even she was surprised. After all her emotions, all it took was meeting him a few times before her heart changed its thought to someone else. To be frank, she was really disappointed with herself and her resolve. Hadn't she told herself that she would change herself and to find the courage to talk to Keima-kun after all? Guess she was weaker than she thought...

'I... think I have that effect on other people. Who'd ever thought that I would have...'

Keima answered softly after Asami's confession and was it just her, or did Keima-san looked a little different. A little... gentler somehow?

'Do you feel better now, Asami?'

'I... I think I do... I do... yes, thank you, Keima-san.'

Asami did looked more relaxed now after sharing with Keima something she only told her twin sister, something that her twin sister had tried hard to make her tell Keima-san in the first place. And she did! Just being able to do it made her feel extremely excited and brave, to the point that she was able to reach over to give him a small kiss on the cheek as thanks before she realized it. She had been planning that move for ages too!

'I-I! I.. erm, T-Thank you, Keima-san!'

Before she could pass out at the sheer audacity of her actions, Asami stood up and left the office in a hurry before Keima could stop her. Not that he wanted to, the **Capturing God** was mentally calculating the odds that he would meet someone from his own class, who had a crush on him and was lucky or perhaps silly enough to look and latch on a single player out of ten thousand individuals to confess to, and got the right person in the end.

Seriously, what were the odds? That was just incalculable and Keima found himself giving up with a small frown on his face.

'… I didn't ask for her real name, did I?'

No matter, he would know when they clear the game. There was just no way he was going to give her the chance to figure out that he was Katsuragi Keima in the _real_. Even if he did find it a little flattering and odd that someone was able to look past the person that he was like _real_, like what Meizun did.

No matter, it really didn't matter after all.

* * *

**A few weeks later**

**Aincrad Level 26**

* * *

'So how is Asami-chan doing? Is she doing well at the orphanage?'

Asuna, The _Flash_, who had made a name for herself in the clearer group with her fast and fancy footwork, smiled at her guest, Ikumi-chan. Ikumi had a nickname of her own as well – Ikumi The Gallant. It was also kind of ironic seeing that Klein had wanted that title but Ikumi had gotten it after she had somehow gotten popular with the female players after rescuing a group of them out on a dungeon raid by herself after getting separated the others of Fuurinkanzen by accident.

Ikumi was a player who used hammers and requiring very little speed and to top that off, she wore heavy armour that made her look like a knight. In Asuna's eyes, it was just overkill really. She was very friendly too and those few facts combined would have caused an explosion of female recruits to Fuurinkanzen if not for Klein, in a fit of clarity or denial, decided that team balance was more important than having a potential harem in Fuurinkanzen. Especially when the harem did not belong to him and to the only female player in the guild. It was a guy thing, really.

'She really likes it there! The kids there are so adorable and Sasha-san says that she's a big help. She's smiling a lot more too now... I'm really glad that Keima-kun recommended her to help out there.'

Ikumi smiled wistfully and happily back to Asuna as the two of them took a sip of the tea that Asuna prepared.

'That's good to hear, Asami-chan is really a gentle girl, it's like what Keima-san said, she could really help out there, I wish we could move them to another floor more often though. We could bring the kids around, there's a lot of sights to see.'

'Mm... True, true... but anyway, how's Fuse-chan? Is she still training hard with Kirito-kun?'

'Yes, she is... She's catching up to Kirito-kun now, she's really good with the two-handed sword.'

'She's not using the [kantana] skill is she? She uses a different type of style, similar to Kirito-kun's style. At least, that's what I hear from Argo-san. I'm not that good with the mechanics and all. Klein-kun is really good with it though, he's really strong.'

'Well he's the guild leader after all, even if he's a silly and can't get any girl to like him... But he's strong, really.'

Ikumi scratched her head while Asuna laughed. She admitted to the other girl that she wasn't good with her built as well, it was all Nezumi's help that she optimized her build.

'Me too, I got Keima-kun's help with it. Without it I won't know what to do. And the guys really helped me in the early levels. Can you believe I'm like within 5 levels of the clearer group? That's amazing! I never thought I'll get _this_ far.'

Ikumi cheered happily while Asuna nodded back, giving her congratulations as well.

'I'm happy for you, Ikumi-chan. We should go now, we have to see how did the meeting ended, right? Can't believe we actually got everyone to come this time. This new guild, it's really something else...'

'Yep, we got a new group this time. The Knights of the Blood, right? The leader... he kinda looks a little old...'

Ikumi gossiped while Asuna laughed before blushing and nudging Ikumi with a frown.

'Don't say that, Heathcliff-san is a very strong player. Even Kirito-kun says so.'

'I know, I know! But it's funny how he came out of nowhere, huh? I mean, he didn't even take part in any of the raids so far and he just upped and showed everyone in the last boss raid. He must have found some secret training technique.'

Ikumi wondered out loud but Asuna gave her a dry look.

'A secret training technique that Argo-san and Keima-san can't find out or publish to the rest? Really?'

'Good point, there's nothing that Keima-kun or Argo-chan can't find out... maybe I can get some of Kirito-kun's sleeping photos for you, Asuna!'

'W-Whaat? N-No, why would I want that?'

* * *

**Author's Notes: IRL is really difficult!  
**


End file.
